The World's Finest
by MortalAmongGods
Summary: In the aftermath of the Kryptonian invasion, as Metropolis attempts to rebuild, Clark tries to adapt to his new life and job. Little does he know that his life is going to get much more complicated courtesy of a certain billionaire from Gotham City.
1. Chapter 1: Two heroes in one city

THE DAILY PLANET: 10/09/2013

Six months after the invasion by extraterrestrial beings known as Kryptonians, Metropolis is slowly starting to recover its former glory. Much of the credit goes to billionaire Alexander Luthor who has invested millions in infrastructure and has become a much acclaimed public figure. Meanwhile the alien being known as Superman continues to work with the law to bring order to the city as crime rates have substantially increased in the aftermath of the invasion…..

**CHAPTER 1**

For the twentieth time this month, Clark was having nightmares.

It always happened when he dosed off. The same face returning again and again to torment him in his dreams, the face which had looked at him with hatred before he had killed him.

_Zod_

"You think you are better, more trustworthy than us, traitor? Do not you ever wish to rule upon those puny beings? Do you deny that, beneath all that pretense of altruism, you envision yourself upon a throne from which you rule all those inferiors?

"You are a disgrace, Kal-El, a disgrace….."

Clark woke up to the maniacal laughter the disembodied head threw. He was aware that he had thrashed wildly in his dreams, the smashed cabinet beside his bed bearing evidence to that. "You are a perversion, Zod. Dishonoring our race, thinking you are above everybody. My father would have never wanted me..wanted any of our kind to live at the expense of another," Clark whispered.

He was not sure if he whispered that to Zod, or to himself.

(-)

Clark ran at his top _human_ speed, barely making to his cubicle before facing Lois. She was early today, even for her, Clark noted with disappointment. He had hoped to arrive earlier at the office today, and escape the patronizing lectures Lois overly enjoyed dishing out to him about the supposed virtues of punctuality. She should talk, he noted grudgingly. At least she did not have to stop five times on her way to office to help bystanders or stop would-be-muggers.

To his surprise, he found Lois looking at him with concerned eyes. "You alright, Smallville? Look terrible today, you do."

"I'm alright, Lois, honestly do you think anything would bother me now with all things working smo….." Clark stopped his attempt at a brave smile when he saw Lois frowning. Somehow she always knew when something happened to him, and try as he might, he could not hide it from her. She could sense lies from him even better than he could with the help of his enhanced auditory functions and all that. "It's him. Again."

She put a hand on his shoulder. "Clark, you did what had to be done. Think how many more lives, innocent lives, would have been wasted had you not done that. You have to stop blaming yourself," She smiled brightly, "And anyway, Perry put us on the big fish today. Bruce Wayne, remember? He is arriving today."

Clark groaned. He hated these billionaire types. Luthor was already taking advantage of every press conference to remind how Superman was descended from the very race that had destroyed half of Metropolis. He did not need another rich philanthropist to remind him of that.

"…..So you will be covering him after he steps out of his hotel room. Smallville, did you hear out?" Lois raised her voice.

"Umm, what?" Clark exclaimed. He was not sure he heard her right.

Lois sighed, "I was saying you will be taking his interview."

Clark's jaw dropped. The brilliant, ambitious Lois Lane, two times Pulitzer award winner and in contention for a third, passing up the life time opportunity to interview the Gotham rich boy to him was too much for him to handle.

"You bet," Clark smirked, recovering himself.

(-)

Bruce Wayne decided that he _did_ hate Metropolis.

Even with much of it in ruins, it was still a glorious city. Its skyscrapers outshone whatever few Gotham had. The streets were clean, with no dark alleys, at least non which he could see as his limousine sped along the road. No punks with guns either, he noted grimly. Metropolis was everything Bruce had wanted Gotham to be, with the latter being nowhere near to what he wished. A long sigh escaped his lips as he contemplated how his vigilantism has apparently done nothing to improve Gotham's exteriors.

As soon as he had stepped out of the limousine, reporters flocked around him. While Lucius Fox, stepping out of another car closely following Bruce's limousine, and his own chauffeur tried to keep reporters at bay, Bruce himself walked fluidly to the reception. It needed a slight cough from him to get the red-haired receptionist to pay attention to him, however from then on it took little more to attract her attention as the receptionist exhaled with excitement while beholding the famous Bruce Wayne. And for good measure, he winked at her, so that by the time he was at the escalator, the red head was all but melting in her seat, with a dreamy look on her face.

(-)

"And how much more will he keep us waiting, Lois?" inquired Clark, perhaps for the seventeenth time.

"I do not know, for Christ's sake. Why don't you buckle down a little bit. It might as well be the story of your life, seeing how Wayne has broken the ice with Metropolis corporations and you of all people from the Planet are going to review him," Lois snapped. She hated playing second fiddle, and Clark knew that she was letting the opportunity pass by only to take his thoughts away from the dead man's.. well Kryptonian's haunting.

"Honestly, I do not like Wayne much. It is nothing personal, seeing we never met. But from what I heard, he is the typical rich trash we know the aristocracy is comprised of," Lois supplied. "Orphaned at an early age, travelling around the whole world before reaching, he is now busy playboying and squabbling his parents' fortunes. He is reckless, arrogant, spoiled and.." she suddenly inhaled deeply, looking up at the stairs, "utterly gorgeous!"

Clark followed her gaze, and saw Bruce Wayne descending the stairs. He was dressed in a black business suit, with his short hair slightly gelled and his blue eyes radiating confidence which Clark could sense even from that distance. Clark had to admit, with a pang of jealousy that had absolutely nothing to do with the wide eyed stare from Lois, that Wayne indeed was handsome.

His fears about the billionaire being a Kryptonian hater was soon allayed however, as he found Wayne to be a most polite man, who was answering his every question with smiles and authority, both equal part. At the end he was quite satisfied, albeit slightly annoyed at the furtive glances Lois shot at Wayne, who also seemed pleased enough to return them.

(-)

Bruce did not know how much more he would have to wait for the thugs to show off.

The Bat-Computer had picked up an anonymous tip a week ago about some dealings by a shadowy organization only known as the Intergang. Hence his visit to Metropolis, under the guise of holding business talks with LexCorp. And by the looks of it, he was in for a third consecutive night's disappointment as thugs still were not in sight.

He almost began dozing off, uncharacteristically, when a faint beacon of light appeared, seemingly out of nowhere. As it brightened, he realized it was a tow truck. An almost involuntary growl came from his throat, out of disappointment. It was almost to be discarded as a mere distraction when it hit him hard.

A tow truck. With nothing in the cargo. In an equally empty warehouse.

He silently slithered down from the roof of the warehouse and took his stance behind the cab, crouching low. Within two minutes he had followed the two men who had come in the truck to the interiors of the warehouse. Third time's the charm, Bruce noted with a smirk.

(-)

Clark's patrol went fine for more the last two nights. No criminals or superpowered villains were apparently keen to give up on their sleep time and go rounds with the Man of Steel it seemed. He almost contemplated calling it a night when alarms went off at the west corner of the city. Clark groaned as soon as he saw the source of trouble: a LexCorp warehouse.

Breaking in there in a matter of seconds, he found heaps of dazed men, apparently beaten to unconsciousness. He allowed his X-ray vision to follow the trail of bodies and found a man holding another by the neck against the wall.

"Batman," Clark growled.


	2. Chapter 2: Metallic - Part 1

**Yeah I know, it so sounds like "The World's Finest" chapter from the "Superman: The Animated Series". Was at a loss for ideas, so finally decided to adapt that with slight tweaks of mine. Anyways it is my first time in fanfiction and I would appreciate some feedback so thanks in advance for all the trouble to read this, and more so for your valuable feedback. Enjoy. ****  
**

**Chapter 2**

Bruce looked at the mook he was hanging by his hand and let him down. He was met with some disapproving glances from the Man in Blue Spandex whom apparently the media dubbed as Superman.

"You and your vigilantism is not welcome here, ," Superman said.

For one moment, Bruce was at a total loss for words. Then he remembered that the Kryptonian could apparently look through the fabric his cowl was made of. Damn, he thought, next time I would have to line my cowl with something that block X-rays.

"This does not concern you Kryptonian, and if I were you I would stay out of this," Bruce retorted back. As he said so, he seemed to find the alien similar to someone he had met earlier in the city. He was pretty astute with his eyes, but the disguise seemed too good for him to decipher. He made a motion to exit the place when the Kryptonian's hand suddenly shot out, attempting to block him.

"I'm in no mood for games, boy scout," Bruce hissed.

(-)

It could not have come as a bigger surprise to Clark. Of all people on Earth, a spoiled playboy had to be the normal badass vigilant which had Gotham's underworld trembling? Apparently that was a night for surprises when suddenly Wayne swept him off his feet with a vicious sweep kick. Before Clark could recover Wayne was already fleeing in full speed.

Clark hesitated. He could have apprehended the vigilant without as much as a blink, but he decided that he did not want any more surprises. Calling it a night, he sped through the air for his apartment.

(-)

Bruce was sleepy when he climbed through the window of his hotel room. With no leads from all those thugs, even after beating the hell out of them, and his identity being compromised to, of all people, an alien in spandex made it quite a bad night. He still had one thing to finish before he dozed off. Taking the flash drive out of his belt he inserted it into his Bat-pad (that is what Alfred liked to call his tablet). An image sprang, taken by the microcameras installed on his eye lenses. After two minutes of analyzing, Bruce got up, a curious smile forming in his face.

(-)

RRRRRRIINGG!

"Daily Planet, Lane here."

"Lois, it's Steve. We have got an accident here in the Downtown. A truck containing hazardous chemicals collided with a Hummer in the 49the Street, resulting in toxic chemical spillage. I will need you to cover this story," came the hurried reply from the other side.

"What were you doing down there, Steve," Lois asked, amazed that the sports columnist happened to be in the vicinity of a road accident.

"I live by the 48th Lois, and are you going to waste your time on investigating how I was present there coincidentally, or come here and wrap up the story before I get the new kid Troupe down here?" Steve Lombard snapped. That was all the encouragement Lois needed. Clark looked up at her with raised eyebrows as she hang up the phone.

"It's your cue, Boy Scout," Lois sighed. Clark smirked, he knew she hated being in the same place with the Man of Steel. Apparently a lot of people had witnessed their lip lock during the Kryptonian invasion (seriously I thought that people were busy running for their lives, he noted) and everytime Lois was there to cover a story involving Superman, there would be chuckles all around.

"I will be there, helping on the clean up. See you there in 15 minutes," he winked.

(-)

It was worse than he thought.

The truck had spilled a lot of chemicals after colliding with a Hummer H2. The wreckage, as well as a wide circle around it, was tainted in acid green. Clark feared for the worst, seeing the situation from above, yet he had to try.

The paramedics still had their paths cut off by the emerald seeping, so Clark decided to stoop down and get whoever was pinned beneath the wreckage out of there. X-raying the whole area, he found both the occupants of the Hummer dead, the mangled remains almost bringing back another unpleasant memory from six months earlier. Focusing again on the task at hand he found two men in the truck barely twitching.

Using his heat vision to cut through the metallic body of the cab, he bursted in and took off with the injured. He took care to land as softly as possible near the paramedics' ambulance.

The paramedics took charge from then on. Before the ambulance door closed, Clark caught one of the injured man giving him a strange stare. It was not gratitude that seeped from his eyes, it was something that Clark had only seen once before, in the eyes of another Kryptonian.

Loathing. Deep hatred

"Great. Just another guy who I saved, and who thinks I am a whacko having too much power than I ought to have," Clark thought sadly. He wondered how much he would have to do to convince people that he was not a threat at all.

Out of the corner of his eyes he found Lois walking towards him. Just when he thought that the he could not feel any worse, he found the onlookers leering at the sight of them two.

Clark sighed, partly out of anger, but mostly out of sadness.

(-)

Bruce was not aware he had let his gaze loitering around until Luthor shouted, "Bruce!"

"Yeah, you were saying Lex?" Bruce snapped his eyes in the direction of his would be business partner.

"Well, I am happy that both of our R&D departments have worked hard to develop the new metallic exoskeleton which would be of immense help to those who are physically impaired. However I am afraid that if you continue to wonder off to your dreamland it would not actually help our cause in discussing how to break even with this high budget project."

Bruce relented, and asked Lucius, who was seating right to him, to propose WayneTech's plans on how to go forward with the venture. At the end, even Luthor and his managers were impressed. Handshakes were passed were passed before the two parties decided to call off the meeting.

"Bruce, I would like a word," Lex called as Bruce made to stand up. He looked at Lucius and asked him to wait for him downstairs.

"Yes, Lex?"

"We could be making much more profits if we would stretch our visions further and visualize these exoskeletons in the Army. The Defense Secretary is more than willing to divert substantial government funds for the creation of super soldiers," Lex smiled softly.

"No."

"I beg your pardon, Bruce?" Luthor looked at Bruce frowning.

"This whole project was envisioned to help physically impaired people so that they are no longer viewed as burden in the society, so that they can contribute in the economy," Bruce answered calmly.

"I appreciate our philanthropic views, but.."

"If you think that you can pull the deal with someone else Lex, go ahead, that is if anyone is willing to pool in such a risky venture, even considering the potential profits that could be made. As long as WayneTech is concerned, however, there is absolutely no question of turning this over for military purposes."

And with that, Bruce suavely walked over to the escalator, leaving an annoyed Luthor behind him.

(-)

John Corben thrashed wildly in the bed.

Never had he experienced so much pain, even the time when he had taken a punch from the punk which has the media swooning all over him.

_Superman_.

He was the reason he was in this bed. If it had not been him nosing while he was trying to pull off a mugging, he would not have had to land that stupid job of a truck driver. That too after serving three months in jail.

And now he was incapacitated, his left leg fully numb, and his right leg amputated. The pain built up so intensely in his chest that he could not help but howl like a wild animal. The duty nurse hurriedly put a Diprivan injection through him.

The last thing he remembered before he drifted to unconsciousness was the inferno raging through his body and the utter hatred of the man who condemned him to this fate.

_**A/N: The name Corben was enough I could give out without having "SPOILERS" being written all over the story. This is as far as it would get similar to the animated episodes. I would get the rest of the chapters here as soon as I can.**_

_**Till then, good luck!**_


	3. Chapter 3: The billionaire strikes

**As I promised, here goes the next chapter of the story. Enjoy and again yours truly would appreciate feedback and criticisms over any weak points! **

**CHAPTER 3**

Bruce lied back idly against the couch in his hotel room, submerged in deep thought. The nature of the trouble he was facing was too bothersome even for him to dismiss it as a typical-Batmanesque-problem.

"Oracle, tell me again. Was the lead legitimate?" Bruce called on his smartphone.

"For the umpteenth time, yes Bats," came the slightly annoyed reply. "I picked up the encrypted message and directly forwarded it to your account. It was a high security address, and even after running the Tracer all I found was that it came from Metropolis."

"So you did not find who actually sent the message?"

"That is the curious part, Bruce. As I said, the sender took every precaution not to give his identity away. And you would not expect someone to pull a mere prank with this much trouble," Oracle chuckled suddenly. "Although I suspect it could be a computer geek with a crush on Batman, if you so want to discard all of this as fluke."

Bruce growled, finding no humor at this sudden jibe. "And I keep running into dead ends. Last night it ended up with that Big Blue Boy Scout. Just when I thought that I would eke out something from the thugs."

"Better luck next time, Bats," Oracle smiled audibly.

Bruce hung up. Returning to his train of thoughts, he finally decided that he wanted a word with a certain reporter from Daily Planet.

(-)

Luthor looked through the cabin window at the man sleeping in the cabin bed. The man's right leg was gone, and his left leg was hung in a cast. Blisters covered all of the parts of his body which remained unbandaged. After staring at the man hard for five seconds, Lex looked away in disgust. Part of his benevolent businessman image required him to visit people in distress, like this scum from the road accident two days earlier.

"Such a waste of time," Lex thought. "I could have given three interviews about Superman in the time it takes me to visit this insignificant wretch."

Minutes later, he was shown the way in by the duty doctor into the cabin. The injured man was wide awake by the time Lex entered his cabin. Lex was immediately put off by the injured man's indifferent attitude; he expected some respect for all the valuable time he put in for this _unprofitable _gesture of apparent kindness.

Lex gestured the doctor to leave him alone. "Are you all right, Mr. err..?" he began in his most sympathetic voice.

"Corben. And why do you care? Aren't you the one who has been telling over the place that the Man of Steel is a menace to general people and needs to be stopped? Well, look at what happened to me! All because of that Big Blue, and where were you when this happened to me?" the man spat out bitterly.

Lex frowned in disdain. How dare he talks to me, Lex Luthor, like that, he thought. Despite that, he did not let his face betray his annoyance.

"I am sure this must be really hard on you, Mr. Corben. I will see what I can do for you." Lex replied in a soothing manner.

Corben looked away in disgust, "I will like nothing better than to see that Man of Steel broken and dead."

A flash immediately crossed Luthor's mind. An injured test subject…. A metal exoskeleton…. A certain Man of Steel who needed to be removed if he himself were to become the only hero of Metropolis.

"Tell you what , how about a deal where you can get your limbs back and be powerful enough to remove that blue menace from this city?" he smiled at the man lying in front of him.

A look of incredulity replaced the expression of hatred on Corben's face, "You really can do that for me, Mr. Luthor?" he asked, in an almost pleading voice with every trace of bitterness removed.

"Yes. Let us just say that our goals are quite similar. I will do everything I can for you. And I can do miracles."

As he left the hospital, Luthor mused how wrong he had been earlier about this particular visit being useless. He just had made the deal of his life. "That is the way to make an unprofitable venture a profitable one, Lex," a voice inside his head chuckled.

And a slow, smug smile formed on his face simultaneously.

(-)

Clark was surprised to see a customized Audi A8 waiting in the parking lot of the Planet. None of the colleagues he knew owned one, and in any case to it was too expensive for someone to afford on a reporter's salary.

A man in full uniform stepped out of the car. "Please Mr. Kent. Mr. Wayne is waiting for you," he said politely.

Despite the farm boy in him being overjoyed at the prospect of riding such a vehicle, a part inside him was nervous. Why Bruce Wayne was willing to meet with him all of a sudden was beyond his comprehension. He could only think that Wayne had somehow connected him to his alter ego. "Nah, that is impossible. No one could associate the dim-witted Clark Kent with Kal-El," he convinced himself, although scarcely believing that.

Fearing the worst, he stepped inside the door the chauffeur held open.

"Mr. Kent, how nice to see you again," Wayne warmly smiled at the sight of him.

"A pleasant surprise, Mr. Wayne," Clark smiled back, not without uneasiness.

"I am terribly sorry for making such a dramatic gesture. It must be quite unnerving to you, given the rather pompous nature the tabloids love associating with me. I am merely asking of you a small favour." Bruce's smile widened.

Clark waited patiently. "I was wondering if you are well acquainted with Miss Lois Lane. A most remarkable lady if I might add. I have read all her columns. She is quite a newsmaker."

Irritation mounted inside Clark. "I suggest you speak to her directly Mr. Wayne, if you are so interested," the abruptness coldness with which he answered surprised even him. "And if you will excuse me, I have work to do."

He did not even wait for the chauffeur to open the door. Clark did not look behind as he stomped his way to the office. If he had, he would have noticed a smile of satisfaction appear on Wayne's face.

(-)

Bruce smiled inwardly. It took much less to pry open Kent's mental defenses than he thought. Also it confirmed that his deduction was right.

His deduction that the nerdy looking reporter from the planet walking with a hump was the strongest man walking on the face of the Earth right now.

(-)

Clark was in a bad mood all day.

Lois soon sensed something was wrong with him, so she tried to talk to him during the break. It did not help matters that Clark tried to keep avoiding her. At last when she did manage to corner him, he was looking at her sullenly, which was totally out of character.

"Smallville, what's wrong?" she asked tenderly.

"Nothing. Just tired." Clark replied succinctly.

"Clark?" she gave that stare which always made his heart melt and spill his beans to her. Not that day though.

"Excuse me," Clark said callously. Completely ignoring the look of hurt on Lois' face, he marched back to his cubicle.

(-)

"J…. K….. L. Voila," Bruce stopped when he finally found the number he was looking for. He called on his smart phone and waited for someone on the other side to pick up the phone.

"Hello," came a feminine voice. Bruce tensed when he heard the voice. A soft, musical voice. It almost made him want to fall in love with whoever was on the other side.

Regaining his wits, he asked, "Am I talking to Miss Lois Lane?"

"Yes. And this is Mr ?" Lois asked.

"Wayne. Bruce Wayne. I believe we had met on the 1st day I had arrived in the city. It is just that we never had had a chance to talk to each other." Bruce replied in his most charming voice.

"Umm.. Err… Yeah," he could almost feel that she was blushing underneath all that uncertainty. He smiled inwardly, having caught off guard arguably the most astute reporter in America.

"Well I would really appreciate it if you would join me for dinner tomorrow night. Are you free?"

"Totally. Umm… I mean… I have to check my schedule. Let's see….ummm," Lois hesitated again. "Yes I am free."

"Brilliant. I will pick you up at 8 tomorrow at your place."

Bruce heard Lois fumble again, before hanging up clumsily. Again he smiled. Almost immediately, he became pensive.

_Selina. Talia. Vicky._

He had once promised not too long ago never to let his romantic feelings get the better of him. He thought of how he had held onto each of those names, in hope that he would finally get over his thirst for revenge. He remembered how he had failed each time.

_"This is only a job. I just need her to get on through to Superman. Otherwise my lead is just as good as being fluke. I can't do anything in this city with a Kryptonian hindering me every step."_

_"You said that too to Selina, remember? And then Talia. And Vicky after that? Face it; you still want a normal life, Bruce. What will happen to you when you give up being the shadow?"_

"I am night," he noted grimly. "I AM Batman."

_**A/N: In reply to one of the queries about the Joker being present here or not, I apologise. No Prince of Crime here.**_

_**The next chapter will focus mainly on the villains, so the showdown between the Dark Knight and the Man of Steel before they consider joining forces would have to wait. So sorry again to keep you waiting, and I will be back as soon as I can.**_

_**Cheers!**_


	4. Chapter 4: Metallic - Part 2

**As I promised here is the next chapter. Enjoy!**

**CHAPTER 4**

Immediately after returning home, Clark felt like a jerk. It him hard that he had just given the cold shoulder to the one person in Metropolis who knew what he truly was and did not despise him for that. Feeling extremely guilty, he picked up his phone and called Lois.

"Hello," Lois answered, picking up the phone no sooner it had rung.

"Lois, I'm sorry. I acted rashly out of irritation; I just had a bad day," Clark hurriedly went on, expecting some severe backlash. To his surprise, he found Lois as soothing as usual.

"It's ok Smallville. We all have our ups and downs don't we?," she made a brave attempt at an audible smile, which Clark suspected was forced.

"Listen, Lois, how about dinner tomorrow at the downtown restaurant you like so much. It would give both of us time to catch up. We hardly spend any time together out of work."

"I.., I am sorry Clark, I have a dinner date with someone else. Maybe some other night?" Lois was uncharacteristically subdued in her response. "Oh, ok. Who are you going out with?" Clark inquired.

"You would not believe. See you tomorrow at the office Smallville," Lois hung up.

In any case, if Clark thought that apologizing to Lois would make him feel better, he was wrong. He sincerely believed that he deserved some harsh words from Lois, and the way she calmly feigned joviality made him feel worse than he would have if she had shouted at him.

And there was the mystery man with whom she was going out. Clark had a pretty shrewd idea who it was, and it did not make his mood any better.

(-)

"One mill Mr. Luthor, no less than that won't do," the thug said.

Lex sighed. "What does Batman breaking into your operations has anything to do with the pay rise?" he demanded.

"I lost some of ma best men in this operation. They would not return to this business after the Bat beat the hell out of them. After all the trouble I went through, I expected that much extra as gratitude," the thug master replied.

"Well it is not like that it is the 1st time you have run into superheroes. What is the big deal this time?" Luthor demanded again, this time with a bit more anger in his voice.

"It is not anyone. It is Batman. He strikes fear in every of ma boys he seizes. Ma boys say that in Gotham, the Bat regularly strikes on the wicked from the shadows, and drains the souls out of them. Folks that faced him get so numb with fear they forget to talk for a week."

"Great. Now Gotham sends its own whacko, as if one in Metropolis was not enough by himself. Alright you will get your pay tripled, not doubled my dear man," the thug master's face lightened at this words."But now you will have to get rid of the Bat as well."

The thug's smile vanished as quickly as water recedes from a duck's back. "Not for even 10 mill Mr. Luthor. Good night."

Luthor mused as he watched the thug exit his office. Useless scum, he thought bitterly, cannot even fight a spooky man in a Halloween costume, yet have the galls to ask for a pay rise. Something had to be done before the Bat doubled his migraine. He was partially relieved that at least the shipment had arrived without further trouble.

"Lex," Mercy called, "Your phone."

"Send it through," he barked, hoping that it was good news. After five minutes when he did hang up, he was in such a cheerful mood that even his PA, who thought she knew Luthor better than anyone on the planet, was left wondering why.

(-)

Lois was distracted for some reason, which worried Bruce a lot.

He had arrived in front of her place right at 8. Punctuality was the one thing he never compromised upon, regardless of the persona he was in. Downside of that was waiting for five minutes seemed almost like waiting for an hour.

The five minutes were worth it though, because Lois apparently cleaned up quite well. Bruce had outings with lots of beautiful women, courtesy of his playboy image, but nothing prepared him for the lady walking down the stairs.

In an ankle-length lilac dress, which complimented her violet eyes, and with a simple bead necklace and small pearl earrings, Lois Lane managed to blow the air out of Bruce Wayne's lungs momentarily. Looking at Bruce, she chuckled, which made him aware of the fact that he was looking at her with his jaw dropped.

Wow, he thought, she is pretty, mentally noting that if that was not an understatement, nothing else was. As they drove to one of the most famous restaurants in Metropolis, however, Bruce noticed something was missing. Lois seemed to have cried, because she sported puffy eyes, and the usual air of charm around her was noticeably absent.

"You have not touched your cuisine, Miss Lane," he spoke, perhaps for the third time after the waiter had delivered the dishes.

"What? Oh, I am sorry, I was just thinking." Lois broke out of her reverie.

Bruce decided to take the initiative to break the ice. "Tell me about Superman." He did not miss the suddenness with which Lois tensed.

"Tell you what, Mr. Wayne, why don't I fix you a date with Superman as well, seeing you are so interested. Maybe a certain Caped Crusader is not enough to satisfy your fanboyism," she chided.

Bruce raised a hand, "I am sorry. No more men in tights, ok?" he smiled.

"Deal, Mr. Wayne?"

"Deal. And the name is Bruce by the way."

She laughed, " Ok, so what have we here for a night out?"

"A dance?" Bruce offered his hand.

"Alright then."

They waltzed slowly, as the mournful music played in the background. Bruce noted that, even when distracted that Lois moved as gracefully as a ballerina. As she kept slipping into her own realm of thoughts, Bruce did something unexpected. He took her hand and raised it to his lips, kissing it softly.

Lois appeared to jerk back to the reality. Initially blushing, she suddenly began to giggle like a ten year old girl. And just as suddenly, she stopped laughing and freed her arms from those of Bruce.

"I am sorry, Bruce, but I am not feeling well."

"Maybe some other night?" he suggested with a wink.

Lois smiled. "Maybe."

(-)

Lex paced along the corridor impatiently. He could hear the doctor's scientific gibberish about the procedure, how dangerous it was, the technicalities, bla ,bla. Damn, he thought, why cannot that stupid man just go on with the procedure and be done with it. The perfect weapon to destroy the Man of Steel was going to be created, and all Lex could do was to listen to the doctor's blabber.

"Dr. Hamilton, will you be so kind to as to start the procedure without further delay," Lex bellowed through the microphone as the doctor paused to take a breath.

"Certainly Mr. Luthor," squeaked Dr. Emil Hamilton.

"Well then, let us be done with it," Luthor snapped. "Time is money, doc. And you know how much I hate to lose money."

Corben was brought out on a large table, not dissimilar from those used in hospitals for surgery. Even at the brink of the inception process which had a healthy risk of leaving him dead, or worse, even more disfigured, he was surprisingly calm. His jaws were clenched with determination. Lex, with his life time experience of reading emotions of people's faces, noticed a subtler emotion under that mask of determination: a thirst for vengeance.

Lex looked at Corben with concern as the doctor brought out the anesthesia and applied it. As he fell asleep, Dr. Hamilton and his team took their positions around the exoskeleton assembler. Slowly, Corben's lost limbs were replaced by new metallic ones. The process gained speed once the replacements were over and before soon, Lex was left beholding a organo-metallic body which only remotely resembled the man underneath it. The final step completed when one of the shards of the ore Lex so painstakingly obtained was inserted in the heart shaped hole in the exoskeleton.

"Process complete in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1," one of Hamilton's assistants announced.

All the built up tension waited to burst inside Luthor, but he forced himself to remain calm. Hamilton rushed towards Corben, who seemed not to be moving. Checking the cyborg's vitals, Hamilton turned to face Lex. One look and Luthor realized the project had failed. There goes twenty million, all for nothing, he groaned.

Suddenly, the metallic body twitched. Hamilton and his assistants rocked back in shock. His anticipation finally getting the better of him, Lex ran down to the operating area, ignoring his bodyguards' pleas. His eyes sparkled with admiration for the being in front of him. Corben opened his eyes, and watched with wonder at the new body which he had been gifted. A green aura surrounded him, emanating from the ore powering his exoskeleton.

With one swift blow, his right arm sliced the nearest machine into two. Looking at his new found limbs, he turned his gaze back on Lex Luthor, who was smiling.

"Well Mr. Corben, it seems that your determination has indeed paid off. How are you feeling now?"

Corben hesitated, "It feels kind of….metallic," he jerked as the machine like monotone of his voice startled him.

"Metallic hmm." Smiling even more brightly, Lex turned to face his scientists, "Congratulations on your successful work. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you: Metallo."

**A/N: The Intergang here is just a gang of common street thugs and smugglers from Gotham, as opposed to the organized crime group powered by futuristic technology it is in the comics. Heck, even they had to build from the scratch right?**

**Next chapter will see a Batman adversary join forces with Lex Luthor. And no, it will not be the Joker.**  
**Happy guessing, and thanks in advance for your feedback!**


	5. Chapter 5: Hostile takeover

**As promised, the next chapter. Enjoy :D**

**CHAPTER 5**

"You sure you were right, boss? One man hits the bucket, and we get triple the money. That was the easiest deal in the world, and you busted it?" the giant asked.

"Huh. You don't know what you are talking about. The Bat is no mere man. He is the reason we had to leave everything in Gotham and start here from the scratch. I would like nothing better than to shove a pickaxe up his big nose of his, just to remind him to keep it out of business which is not his," Cyrus Gold said. "No money is easy, ma son. Not in our line. And I hate to keep losing good men to him."

"So why not just get rid of him once and for all?" the giant raised his eyebrows, although Gold could not see that beneath the mask.

"We have tried, and look how our failure ended. No. Better just to avoid him. He still does not know the Intergang is the same crime family he drove away last year. Let him be in the dark," Gold got up from his seat. "And I will hear nothing about him no more."

The eight-foot tall man realized the unspoken order to leave the crime boss's room. As he exited the room, Antonio Dorrance grimaced under his mask. "You are losing your touch old man. It is time for you to hit the bucket yourself."

(-)

Clark kept looking at Lois through the cubicle wall, wondering how to apologize to her face to face.

"Enough planning, let us just be frank with that," he decided, getting up from his chair. Lois was busy finishing a story, her urgency a bit more evident than usual.

"Hey, there," Clark said in his best friendly voice, with a smile as bright as he could muster to boot.

"Hey yourself. Aren't you supposed to be finishing your story on the latest adventures of Superman and the army officers who attempted to kidnap the vice president on Air Force One?" Lois' overdone cheery voice and the too flashy nature of the smile made Clark suspect that she was showing off. Realization of his own phony smile hit him at that.

"Umm, I am done with that," Clark stammered out. "How did your dinner date go by the way," he asked, sensing his face getting crimson with embarrassment.

Lois' blush beat Clark's, an abrupt wave of violent red on her usually keen face. "It went alright I guess. Oh sorry, I forgot, I have to submit another article to Perry. My deadline's almost over." She hurriedly took excuse, then walked rapidly to the chief's office.

Clark got the impression that she wanted to avoid him as much as possible. Mentally berating himself for screwing up the matter of a simple apology, he went back to his own cubicle. "Next time I meet that spoiled brat, I'm gonna hang him upside down," he thought bitterly, all the while banging his head on the table in his imagination, disgusted at his own tactlessness.

(-)

In his small, flimsy room what he liked to term as his office, Cyrus Gold considered the course of action he needed to take to ensure his family's survival. Ever since Batman had arrived twelve years ago in Gotham, the mobs had to struggle to stay afloat in the face of the menacing vigilant. And now he had tracked them to Metropolis, even with the Gold family having gone with a different name.

"Bad idea to come here. Even if that pointy eared rodent did not follow us here, there was still the Big Boy in Blue," Gold told himself. Picking up the phone, he barked, "Anthony!"

"Ya, boss," came the reply.

"Get the boys down here in my office, all of them. Now."

When around twenty five men had gathered and Anthony stated that they were all left, Gold bit back a sigh. The Gold family had more than a thousand recruits at its prime, and now it was reduced to no more than a measly bunch of incompetent men.

"We are leaving boys. This town ain't safe for us no more."

Several men groaned. Dorrance, with his imposing figure casting a shadow, asked in a mild mocking tone, "And which town are we going to, boss? With our luck we might as well go back to Gotham."

Gold scowled, "Seattle. And pack up quickly"

The men made to move, but there were stopped in their tracks by Dorrance. "You know what boss, I think I will stay. And I think the boys want to stay too."

Gold stood up from his chair, his sides shaking with fury, "Who are you to decide that Dorrance? I am the boss here."

"Not unless you decide to stay here. You know, I am rather interested by Luthor's proposition. This will give us money to rebuild the mob. And that too for just breaking the Bat."

"Why you…" began Gold furiously.

The giant moved with surprising quickness and in a flash had the mob boss hoisted by the neck. "Listen to me, you old pathetic man. You have lost your last chance here. The mob's been reduced to nothingness, and this is our best chance to rebuild."

Gold looked back at him with contempt, "Go to…" He never finished the sentence, as the giant slapped his hand to the side of his face, and with both hands torqued his neck. Cyrus Gold was dead before he struck the floor, his neck twisted at an odd angle.

Dorrance rubbed his hands together in a gesture of clearing the filth off. "From now on I will be running the family. Anyone having any problem with that?" he said, turning to face the men.

The men just stood there with horrified stares, stunned by the abruptness of the events right before their eyes.

"Good," Dorrance sneered. "For starters, dispose of this filth. And I'm gonna secure the deal that will make us stinkingly rich."

(-)

The full moon added to the already beautiful night sky of Metropolis, but Clark was in no mood to enjoy that. He was on lookout for further trouble, not that there were signs of that in Metropolis lately. Which just meant that Batman was doing a good job of doing his work in Clark's home turf, just as he had made a seemingly successful move on Clark's personal life.

His mind was bent on a single purpose; to capture the vigilant before he turned Clark's own city. Granted he was doing a pretty good job, but crime fighting outside the law came with a price. Gotham itself was an example. Clark was always careful not to directly engage with groups of outlaws unless the police or some other force was involved.

A sigh escaped his lips as he landed on the roof of one of the skyscrapers, hoping to get a good look around from the top. A slight rustling sound, which he could detect thanks to his extra sensitive auditory functions, made his neck turn 180 degrees sharply.

"We need to talk," the shadowy figure which had just arrived behind him growled, reflecting Clark's own thoughts.

(-)

Lex looked at his Rolex for the sixth time in seven minutes. The meeting was not going exactly as he had planned. The seven foot tall man facing him had an imposing physique, and could easily crush his head with his fingers if he wanted to.

"As I said, Mr. Luthor, no one would ever risk their skin for hunting down Batman, even if you pay them thrice the money I'm asking for. I know you had a deal with our old… boss," the giant paused, letting the underlying threat reach Luthor, before continuing, "so I would suggest that we both keep our ends of the bargain and settle for an intermediate amount."

Lex considered. Although his robotic ally might be a match for the man in blue, he was not sure that he wanted Metallo to face Batman. His shadowy partners had often referred to Batman as dangerous, and the few people who had dismissed him as a mere mortal in a batty costume had their sorry backsides handed back to them the hard way.

"Ok, so what guarantee do I have that you can actually take him down? Your guys failed to do it at Gotham?"

The part of the giant's face not covered by the mask twisted into a cold sneer, "Because I know how he thinks. I was just bidding my time for the perfect opportunity to strike at him. Outside of Gotham, he is much less effective, although no less dangerous."

He stood up, "So do we have a deal?" It was more of a threat than it was a question.

Lex also stood up, extending his hand, "Deal."

The two men shook hands, before the giant exited. Lex was not liking the way things were proceeding. Not at all.

**A/N: I know I'm taking bit too much liberty with the actual content, but hey I do not own any of these characters. It's after all fanfiction.  
The next chapters will focus on the showdowns of the respective heroes (I know some of you are sighing "finally"; sorry to keep you waiting so much from the actual fun). See you soon!**


	6. Chapter 6: Shadow vs Steel

**Voila, the chapter that cometh next. Enjoy and if in the mood, spare a little feedback! :D**

**CHAPTER 6**

Clark observed the figure in front of him with narrowed eyes. With the moonlight behind Batman, his silhouette eerily reminded Clark of vampire horror movies. He realized how a man with seemingly no superpowers was able to instill so much fear in criminals. Instead of standing tall, like he himself did, Batman always seemed to stick his head in front, like some hunchback. It added a feel of fear to his already intimidating posture, like a hungry predator waiting to devour its prey, and also gave him better balance in case of a surprise attack, allowing him to avoid and counter attacks better.

"You should talk," Clark spoke in a hoarse voice. "Don't you think you should stop nosing in any city which is not Gotham? Metropolis does not need you."

"On the contrary, Kent," Batman growled, following it up with a glare that could melt icebergs. "Unless you want your city to be overrun by organized crime families, I suggest you get over the uptight notion of playing the sole superhero in the city."

Clark was left reeling by Batman's words. No one had ever seen through his identity, except Lois, and she already knew him quite well in both of his persona. To have his secret known to someone whom he barely knew for a week seemed downright embarrassing.

"I can take care of my own city, thank you, without men in rodent costumes trying to scare the hell out of people here," Clark retorted, surprised at finding his voice slightly quivering.

Batman let out a grim smile, apparently pleased at having shaken him up. "So far I have seen you doing a marvelous job of that. Preventing me from apprehending thugs when without your help I could have the information I needed to drive out a whole gang within two days. Thanks to you it is now back to square one."

Clark looked on, unimpressed. He had become used to this Hannibal lecture types long ago, and for all the fame of Batman inspiring terror through mere words, he was doing a poor job.

"And tell you what," Batman suddenly chuckled, then continued in a softer, smooth voice, "I was wondering if your insistence on having me driven out of this city has more to do with that beautiful lady friend of yours than it has to do with my, umm, methods."

Clark tensed. That was a raw nerve the jerk had touched. Before he knew anything, he was speeding towards Batman with a desire to beat him half to death. And then he found himself covered by smoke, his normal vision obscured by the thick fog of what he suspected was tear gas, because his eyes were watering. Taking a deep breath, he let a stream of air flow through his mouth, intending to clear the annoying gas. Before he could look around, however, Batman had grabbed his forearm, and effortlessly flipped him against the railing.

"Enough of your games," Clark bellowed. With a sudden burst of speed, he rammed his shoulder against Batman's, this time sending the latter flying, before he hit the railing on the other side hard.

"Le me make things clear. Don't you dare look at Lois again, you playboy scum!" Clark spoke coldly, picking up Batman by the neck.

"Looks like I hit gold." Batman leered, "If you want me to steer out of your life, then you steer clear out of mine and let me do my own goddarn job!"

Clark put him down, "Not gonna happen. I can take care of my city, and I do not remember asking you for help."

"Is it so? Why is it that a prominent crime family has not been yet detected, even after arriving here for more than a month? You have shown wonderful competence in that job." Batman let out a hoarse laugh. "As competent as you are in managing Miss Lane."

Rage blinded Clark's vision, soon all what he saw was tinted in red, "I am warning you, Wayne!" In a moment of overwhelming anger, red flashes escaped his eyes, hitting Wayne on the chest and knocking him back. The impact left a nasty smell of burning Kevlar, and a gaping hole in the Batman's chest armor.

Batman glared back, seemingly unfazed by the heat of the impact, "Or what? You are gonna let the laser beams escape your eyes and vaporize me right here? Go on, do it. It should not actually be hard for you. You have experience in homicide."

Clark immediately snapped out of it, his vision immediately returning to normal. "I… I did not mean to…." he began, in a weak tone.

"Spare me," Batman spat out.

Clark looked down, ashamed that he had let his emotions get to him so easily. He lifted his face, only to see Batman gone, as if by magic.

He stood on the rooftop alone, stomaching everything Wayne had told him. No one, not even Zod, had left him feeling so vulnerable. Batman had not broken him physically, but he had done more than that. He had shattered his confidence as a hero.

(-)

Lois was concerned about Clark. The usually upbeat Clark Kent looked absolutely grounded, and if it was not worrying enough, that was the second time in the week she had seen him in a letdown mood in the office. She wanted badly to know what was bothering him, but she was afraid as well. The last time she had tried to console Clark, he acted a little too harshly with her. It had shaken her so badly that after returning home that day, she had practically spent the whole afternoon crying badly. Even for someone she knew better than the others, Clark could be surprisingly aloof towards her. There would be moments when he would seem to become very distant from everyone, including Lois.

Eventually after mustering all her courage, she made her way to Clark's cubicle. He was sitting in front of his computer with a vacant stare.

"Clark," Lois said with as much softness as she could, putting a hand on Clark's shoulder. Clark nearly jumped, surprised at finding Lois by his side. "Care to tell me what's bothering you?"

He looked up at her, his face heavy with unmistakable sadness. "I have been thinking Lois."

"Yes?"

"Am I a man, or just a freak from another world with strange powers?" he said in a barely audible voice.

Lois looked at his face, trying to read between the lines. "Is it _him_ again?"

Clark shook his head, "No, it's not Zod. Lois, what if I lose control over my powers? What if I have a bad day and lash out in anger and kill everyone? What guarantee is there that this would not happen?"

Lois looked at his eyes. The deep blue irises, which usually twinkled in benign humor, now looked as fragile as glass. It was heart wrenching for her to see such a confident man nearly being driven to being broken. She lowered herself to face the sitting Clark eye to eye.

"I believe you, Clark. So did your father, both of them," Lois smiled.

"But what if I.." Clark was stopped by Lois putting a finger on his lips.

"You are a beacon of hope, Clark. I know you will never descend to that level," She kissed him lightly on the cheek, then stood up and walked back to her cubicle, leaving him feeling slightly better.

(-)

Downtown Metropolis was in a mess. Cars were strewn aside here and there like toys in an unruly toddler's room, and in the middle of all the trouble was a man in metallic armor. The police attempted to contain the damage, but their efforts were futile as the metal man was on an unstoppable rampage, upturning cars and yelling at the top of his voice.

"It's no use in containing him with guns, we might as well throw teddy bears at him!" shouted a sergeant. "Call in the military!"

Even with the arrival of the Army the rampage was barely contained. The military personnel had to make sure that they did not cause too much collateral damage. Their target however, had no such constraints.

(-)

Metallo looked at the armed men surrounding him with despise. The bullets from their assault rifles irked him more than doing actual harm.

"Run to mummy, scumbags," he sneered. He covered the ground between himself and the armed men with surprising agility, and in no time army personnel were being tossed around like rag dolls.

"Use the anti-armor guns!" a colonel bellowed. A line of men crouched, with their shoulder mounted rockets ready to fire at Metallo. He effortlessly dodged all of their projectiles. Speeding towards the APCs, he willed his hand to change into a sharp implement. From one swipe of his metallic alloy arm, the nearest APC was neatly sliced in two.

"Fun," Metallo thought to himself. Loud he bellowed, "Is that the best you got? Where is the Man of Steel? Is he too scared to face me? Come on, send him in!"

B y the corner of his cybernetically enhanced eyes, he detected something rapidly moving towards him through the Metropolis airspace. Looking up, he recognized a familiar figure in blue bodysuit and red cape.

"The rat has taken the bait," Metallo grinned. "Showtime!"


	7. Chapter 7: First encounter

**CHAPTER 7**

Hovering high up in the sky to get a better look around of the situation, Clark immediately realized that this was not an ordinary clean up job. The collateral damage was much worse than he had anticipated, second only to that caused by the Kryptonian invasion.

"Oh brilliant," Clark thought sarcastically. "This might be my chance to trash the other half of the city which was left standing." A closer look confirmed that a weird looking robot was the source of all trouble. Without the slightest hesitation, he swooped down, just in time to knock back the robot with a fist to the jaw, before it had the opportunity to pounce on the two disarmed soldiers in front of him.

The punch sent the robot flying fifty feet before it came to a stop in the ground with a metallic screech. To Clark's surprise, it got up immediately, brushing aside the punch aside as if it was a mere annoyance. With surprising swiftness, the robot closed the gap between them. Clark barely had time to dodge the the robot's right fist aimed at his head before the left one connected with his gut.

Pain flared up in his stomach, a sensation he had become unused to in the last six months. Clark regretted going into the fight without a plan. He had hugely underestimated his adversary.

Not giving the robot to land any further blows upon him, Clark took to the skies. He surveyed his surroundings in order to formulate a plan in his mind. With the raw power he had faced, he was pretty sure that there would be a few more nasty surprises for him. And that inevitably meant a super powered brawl, in which there was a high risk that bystanders would get caught. He attempted to look inside the robot using his supervision and found to his surprise a living man within.

Plan A, which consisted of using his heat vision to melt the robot, was out of question. Clark did not want to risk hurting the man inside the armor. Which meant that he had to stall the cyborg to buy enough time for the military to evacuate the surroundings.

Clark landed near the biggest APC and found himself face to face with the senior most member of the team. From his uniform, Clark figured that he was a general, and his name tag read "Lane". He noted the general observing with him with narrowed eyes, and for some reason found himself strongly disliking the general.

"So this is Lois' father," he thought, noting the similarly built face. Clark had once asked her about her family, and was greeted by a snappy retort which made it evident that Lois did not want to talk about her family. He had wondered then, but his recent impression of the general was consistent with Lois' reaction back then.

Despite his disinclination to talk to that man, Clark cleared his voice with a fake cough, "General, I think it will be better if your troops evacuate the citizens in the vicinity to somewhere safe."

The general sneered unpleasantly, "Who is the commanding officer here, you? We are doing a fine job here." His remarks did not help to allay the animosity Clark harbored for him.

"As I can see quite clearly," Clark responded sarcastically. The general opened his mouth to respond, but the nearest APC was suddenly sent flying at Lane, and Clark had to swiftly carry the general out of the harm's way. Putting the general down he raised an eyebrow.

"Fine," Lane growled reluctantly.

(-)

Metallo looked at the Man of Steel speeding through the air towards him. Bracing himself for a clash, he clenched his fists to pummel Superman to the ground. The clash never occurred as the alien swerved upwards just before Corben could send his fist at him. He looked up to see the alien looking at him with narrowed eyes.

"Scared, blue boy?" Metallo taunted.

The alien smirked in response, gesturing towards Metallo to come and get him. He crouched, before propelling himself towards his nemesis with the help of his enhanced lower limbs, hoping to head butt the alien hard in the gut. Superman was anticipating that trick though, and he swerved aside just enough for Metallo to miss his mark, and then grabbing his arm from the side, tossed him towards the ground.

The impact sent a shockwave through the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust. Metallo got up to his feet in short time, the impact serving to fuel his rage more than actually hurting him.

(-)

Out of the corner of his eye, Clark saw the last batch of people evacuating the area. Given the license to cut loose finally, he plummeted downwards towards the cyborg, who deftly leaped aside. Now on the ground, with full anticipation of what was coming from the other, both adversaries began to trade blows. Slowly Clark began to overpower his opponent, knocking the cyborg a few times to the ground.

"That is the best you got? After all of that boasting which I could hear from the other side of the city?" Clark did not waste his opportunity for the verbal payback.

Again the cyborg got up with astounding agility and sped towards him. Another round of trading blows commenced, with Clark yet again knocking down his adversary.

"Stay down," Clark warned. "I don't wanna hurt you."

The cyborg grimaced in reply, "Oh really? But I want to hurt you real hard."

"Have it your way, then," Clark brought both his fists downward on the cyborg. Realizing his defeat was nearing, the cyborg retaliated with desperation, wildly landing out blows. For the first time, Clark was beginning to get overwhelmed by the unpredictability of his opponent. With no choice left, he had to risk hurting the man. His eyes began to glow an ominous red, and then red flashes escaped his eyes. The beams hit the metallic hands of the cyborg, melting them down.

To his horror, Clark so the metal solidify as soon as he had stopped shooting his heat vision, leaving the cyborg's hand perfectly unscathed. The change of tactics did disorient the cyborg though, and Clark did not need a second invitation to drive home a punch which he did not hold back. The cyborg hit a building hundred feet away, before crashing to the ground, with the entire building collapsing on him.

Clark saw his opponent make his way out of the rubble with much effort. He could see the cyborg tiring and decided to finish the fight quickly. As soon as he started speeding, however, something unexpected happened. A panel opened in the cyborg's body, right on the place where a man's heart is supposed to be. Immediately Clark doubled over with pain and stopped ten feet in front of the cyborg. The rock in the chest of the metallic body unleashed a sickening glow of green, under the effect of which Clark felt his strength waning slowly.

"Who is hurting who now, huh?" the cyborg gloated, before kicking out. The pain doubled as the metallic foot connected with Clark's jaw, sending him backwards. A salty stream began to flow within his mouth, and Clark realized the cyborg had drawn blood.

As he crouched on the ground with his hand clutching his chest in agony, he could see the cyborg walking towards him, intending to finish him off. Before the cyborg could land a fatal blow, however, there was a flash and then the ground around him erupted in smoke. A gauntleted hand lifted him roughly from the ground, and then wrapped around his waist to support him. Another flash, and before he knew it, Clark felt himself lift upwards.

With the pain slowly receding, he looked at his savior, who was holding him tight with one arm, the other arm holding a grappling hook gun. He had been saved by the man who he had least expected to come to his aid.

When Batman had hoisted both himself and Clark on the roof of a skyscraper, Clark could not decide whether he was feeling dizzy more from the exposure of the strange rock or from the fact that he had been saved, of all people, by the Caped Vigilant.

"Thank you, Batman, I.. I," Clark found himself at a loss for words.

Batman, for his part, did as he was expected to do: ignoring the gratitude and looking stoic. But when he spoke, Clark could detect a slight note of concern under his unemotional voice.

"Feeling alright, now?"

Clark nodded silently, starting to get up. He would have fallen almost immediately, if it had not been for Batman supporting him. Although the pain had gone for some time, he was feeling extremely weak.

"You are in no situation to stand, much less fly," Batman growled. Without giving Clark time to protest, he wrapped his hand around his waist again, and then shot his grappler gun. It was getting dark.

(-)

Lois was almost worried half to death. She had not heard from Clark since he had flown to Downtown Metropolis. Although she knew he could handle the situation by himself, the fact that the trouble had led to the calling of the army, and even that was not enough, did little to relieve her.

She was pacing in the balcony of her apartment, when a shadow loomed over her. As the figure drew closer, she realized it was not one but two men, with one holding the other. Panic built up in her chest as she realized who the latter was.

"Clark!" she cried, running over to him as soon as the figure in cape had let him down after landing. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, I…" Clark began, but the shadowy figure cut him short. "He has been weakened severely. He needs to rest, preferably under the care of someone who knows him… well," he finished awkwardly.

"Batman, I presume," Lois answered, raising an eyebrow. She withered under the glare he shot back.

Lois turned her attention towards Clark, helping him to stand up. Slowly he made his way towards the couch in the room, with Lois supporting him. Remembering she forgot to thank Batman, Lois turned, only to find him gone.

"Yup, definitely Batman," she mused, noting how the rumors about the Gotham crime fighter being able to disappear into the shadows at will were seemingly true.


	8. Chapter 8: Payback

**Apologies for not leaving an A/N in the previous chapter; I realized there were a quite a number of loose ends which needed to be tied up. I actually finished the chapter while half asleep.  
This being Clark's first exposure to Kryptonite (I think everyone have got it by now) left him considerably weakened for a long time. Gradually Clark will start to recover better from Kryptonite exposure.  
Lois calling Superman by his name, in front of Batman. Yes that WAS an intended, on my part, slip up by Lois.**

**CHAPTER 8**

Antonio Dorrance looked at the rewards his mob's latest venture had brought. The crates which housed the goods were worth more than diamonds to him. The family's old trading partners had shown defiance to Dorrance after knowing that he had usurped Cyrus Gold, but a few broken necks were enough to coerce the rest to go on with the partnership as if nothing had happened.

"Anthony, should not you leave?" Dorrance whispered hoarsely.

"Yes, boss. I was wondering if you needed me," the meek voiced man in a red overcoat spoke.

Having his back face towards the man who was previously Cyrus Gold's personal assistance, Dorrance turned at the slightest hint of rebellion in the little man's voice. Whatever bravado Anthony had mustered, it vanished at the sight of the seven foot physique towering above him. He crooked in fear and took his leave from the room without any word.

As he opened the crates to reveal the ampules of steroids underneath, Dorrance felt his mind slip back into old memories: his first encounter with the Dark Knight (as the Gotham tabloids liked to call _him_), his defeat and landing in jail, his transfer to the Arkham Asylum, the first brush with steroids, and then the precious liquid, prompting his transformation into the paragon of human race that he believed in, both physically and mentally.

He looked at his enormous, bare hands, and he could almost imagine the blood from his first ever murder flowing on them. In his over indulgence in steroids, he had turned to lethal means within the asylum. That was until he had got his hands on the same compound that was filling the vials in front of him. How he had changed; his insuppressible rage turned into absolute focus, his then tall but weak body stacked up by copious amount of muscles. With each passing day, as he defeated and broke countless inmates, he would take time to look at himself: the perfect specimen of humanity, as he liked to think of himself.

And now, he had the chance to gain everything he had dreamt of after he had landed unceremoniously behind the bars as a common street punk. Taking the top spot on his list of priorities was getting even with the man who had put him through those ordeals in life.

"It is time," Dorrance mused, opening the last crate to find the apparatus with which he could supply himself with a continuous supply of his serenity drug, even during battle. Putting it on, he turned to call Anthony.

(-)

Lex was torn between a feeling of triumph and contempt as he finished viewing the video on his desktop. The fight with Superman had gone better than he had anticipated, and he was pleasantly surprised to find the Man of Steel weakened by the mere exposure to the green rock fueling the cyborg. He had greater regrets, however. If only he had known earlier, he would have had changed the alloy to some other one which did not radiation from the ore from reaching Superman. And that nitwit of a cyborg wasted his time on boasting how he had bested the Boy Scout, when he could have quickly finished the task and prevent Batman's interference from being decisive.

Batman, mused Lex as his train of thoughts abruptly came to a stop. That man had proven himself to be as much of a hindrance to Lex's goals as Superman had been. And the video gave a glowing testimony of what Batman was capable of, despite lacking superpowers. Lex rewound the video again, observing how Batman arrived in the nick of time, followed up a smoke grenade with an EMP one to disable Metallo, and saved Superman. That was when the video feed stopped running. Lex wondered where Metallo was. After the fight had ended, the army had returned to the site, but there was not a single living soul there.

"Metallo can wait for now," Lex whispered to himself. "I need to get rid of that Bat first." Picking up the phone he barked to Mecry, "Get me another meeting with the gang."

(-)

Bruce leaned against the giant globe on Daily Planet Building roof and looked upwards at the star-lit sky. The sky was never that much clear in Gotham, even in the cloudless days. There was always too much smoke from the old factories. A sigh escaped his lips at yet another indication of how Gotham would always be considered inferior to the other cities. Bruce could recognize Sirius, Canopus and Vega among the brightest stars shining, courtesy of Alfred taking time in the evening to teach the young Bruce a little about the night sky.

The thought almost made Bruce homesick. He was aware he was away from Gotham for more than a week, and he rarely had been that long absent from his home city since he started crime fighting. He would never admit it in front of the others, but seven nights of patrolling alone in a barely known city made him wish badly to be back in the company of Alfred, Tim and Barbara.

A swish awoke him from his world of musing, and he turned to find himself face to face with Superman.

"Why are you here?" Bruce asked roughly. Superman raised an eyebrow, but did not answer. For a change, it was the first time Bruce actually found himself facing Superman with no hostilities involved. He quickly lost interest, concentrating instead on the job at hand: breaking yet another meeting of the so called Intergang.

It was Kent who broke the ice first after five minutes of silence, "Care to share what is going on here actually?"

Bruce ignored him. Kent went on, "Look I did not come here to fight, if that is what you are thinking. I just came to say thank you. Maybe we can work together, if you are willing of course."

"You will be helping me, if you get yourself out of this place and this business. I work alone," Bruce responded rather ungracefully.

He half expected Superman to heat up and fire one of his eyebeams again, but Kent just shrugged and took off. Bruce followed suit, but headed for the opposite direction. His intuition told him something was going on in the shadowy warehouses downtown.

(-)

Clark had never felt that much confused in his life. He was grateful to Batman and offered to repay the debt in his own way. And there was also how Batman had made his personal life even more complex than before. Swinging on the roof tops before finally finding yourself dumped unceremoniously on the apartment balcony of a woman on whom you harbored not-so-subtle feelings? That was a bit embarrassing. He himself did not help matters the next morning by waking up with a yelp in Lois' couch before crashing to the floor while turning, while Lois sat on her bed, fully dressed in office attire with an amused expression on her face. That was downright humiliating for him.

Wayne constantly giving Clark the cold shoulder and him and Lois going out on yet another dinner date was also frustrating for him. Sometimes he could not decide which of the rich guys he despised more: Wayne or Luthor. As he flew away in the night sky, out of the corner of his eye he saw Batman jump from the Daily Planet building rooftop.

Clark changed his direction, following Batman from a distance at which he would be safe from the latter's eyes. He wanted answers, and he was not willing to wait further.

(-)

As soon as he had broken in, Bruce knew he had walked into a trap. The warehouse seemed empty whichever he looked. Whoever Bruce had followed must had known he was on their trail, and they were waiting in the shadows to ambush him.

A whoosh and then a dark shape dropped on him. He adroitly leaped aside, before taking his assailant's arm and flipping him towards two others who were rushing towards him. The fourth man lunged at him with a knife in hand. Grabbing the hand in mid-stab, Bruce knocked his free hand right underneath the attacker's diaphragm, knocking the air out of his lungs. He then followed with a kick to the left ribs and a right hook to the face.

"Not much of a trap, is it Batfreak?" a rumbling voice sneered from the shadows. As he stepped into the light, Bruce made out the enormous figure of the man.

"Enjoy this fight as much as you can. For all I know it could be your last fight," the giant sneered again. "Let's go."

Bruce threw a batarang at the huge man. To his surprise, the giant popped it out of air and crushed like it was made of cardboard. "Ok, this is going to get ugly," he told himself, before launching himself at the giant.

He was facing an opponent of unprecedented proficiency. His adversary withstood every blow he landed; even the nerve strikes did little to faze him. Worst of all, he felt himself tiring as the fight dragged on, but the giant was not countering his attacks. Bruce could realize that his opponent was deliberately tiring him out before going for the kill.

As the giant parried his last kick, Bruce flipped backwards, panting from the effort. He barely had the stamina to carry on another round. He feinted a right hook to the jaw before sending his left fist to the giant's diaphragm, but his adversary saw through the trick. Holding Bruce's fist in an iron grip, the giant immediately pulled him into a crushing bear hug. Pain shot up in his chest as if someone had poured boiling water in his innards. He heard a few ribs crack before the grip loosened and fell to the ground.

"Hurts huh? I would give you mercy, of course, if you beg for it!" the giant taunted.

"Go..to…hell!" Bruce spat out through clenched teeth, fighting the pain back.

"If you say so," the giant lifted Batman's barely moving body. "Now I break the Bat!" With those words, he brought the limp form in his hands right on his knees.

Bruce howled in agony as his back connected with the stone hard knees of the giant with a loud crack. His entire body became numb with pain. The last thing he could make out before losing consciousness was a blur of blue speeding and colliding with the giant, knocking him back.

**A/N: I took inspirations from the Knightfall story arc for this chapter. It had been one of my most favorite stories about the Dark Knight.  
Thanks for all your comments! :D**


	9. Chapter 9: Cover-up

**CHAPTER 9**

Clark sped through the warehouse walls, abandoning all thoughts of subtlety as soon as he heard the loud crack. He arrived just in time to see Batman lying limply on the floor, with a giant raising a foot, ready to bring it down on Batman's neck. Without any hesitation, he flew straight into the giant, knocking him into the wall on the other side.

The giant made no motion to fight back and fled as soon as he recovered. Clark restrained himself from following him; he was already dreading that he had broken in a bit too late. He turned his eyes towards Batman, and almost recoiled in horror at what his X-ray vision revealed. Many of Batman's ribs were broken, as were the bones in his arms and hands, but what truly scared Clark was the odd way in which Batman's vertebrae were bent. With injuries that serious, Clark feared that Batman would loss his mobility, or worse, his life, if he was not treated immediately.

Picking up Batman's limp form, he flew out of the building. Not even hospitals could help Batman much, which meant that there was only one place that Clark could take him to.

(-)

Bruce woke up with a start, having nightmares of a giant stepping on his back. Thankful that what he saw was a mere dream, he made a motion to get up from the bed he was in, only for overwhelming pain to shoot up in his torso the moment he tried to move his arm. For the first time, he was aware of the strange surroundings that he was in. He moved his neck slowly so as not to hurt himself.

It was a simple yet one of the most bizarre rooms he ever had been in. The whole room was painted in glowing bluish white, with the roof curved like a dome. There was only one window, which gave a view of grassland. Bruce himself was lying on a bed with an inverted fish bowl like covering, like a giant gas mask.

Turning his neck left he found in front of him a strange robot. It had a flat, wide head, connected to a round metallic body, with two long, thin appendages protruding from its side.

"Good morning, Bruce Wayne," it spoke in a mechanical voice, startling Bruce. "My name is Kelex. I am an android with 3rd level intellect, assigned to assist Kal-El."

"Kal-El?" Bruce wondered aloud.

At that moment, the wall behind Kelex vanished, creating an entrance through which entered Superman.

"You have already met Kelex I see. I was hoping to introduce you to him." Clark said with a hint of smile. It disappeared as soon as he noticed Bruce's frown.

"Where am I?" Bruce tried to growl, but only managed a weak voice.

"Geez, why do you guys always say that after you have recovered from being knocked out?" The smile returned on Clark's face, brighter than before. At that moment he looked more like a nine year old kid describing his ultimate toy than the usually serious Man of Steel that everyone had come to know.

Bruce chose to ignore Clark's comment, looking around as much as his neck could allow. Clark asked again, "How is your back?"

Bruce wanted to ignore that question too, but raised his neck and reluctantly answered, "Pain's still in there. Lot less than before though. I gotta go back."

"No," Clark replied in a stern voice. Bruce tried his best Batman glare, but apparently it was a lot more difficult when you are lying in a bed wearing a hospital gown. "You are in no position to sit up even, much less making demands of me to go back to your crime fighting spree."

Bruce slumped back to his pillow, "Are you gonna tell me where we actually are at least?"

Superman replied, grinning, "Fortress of Solitude."

(-)

"You are telling me that Kent built this place from the remains of the Kryptonian mothership?"

"I understand your incredulity, , but Kryptonian technology is highly advanced, much more so than that which exists on Earth," Kelex replied unemotionally.

"So where is this Fortress of Solitude? Kenya? Mozambique?" Bruce asked, looking at the grasslands through the window.

"We are situated at 88 degrees 24 minutes latitude, and 12 degrees 20 minutes longitude, sir."

"What? That means we are at the freezing North Pole!" Bruce was looking at the grasslands with disbelief.

"I believe that is what you call this place, sir .If you will excuse me sir, it is time for me to provide biological fuel to the specimens in, what I believe is called in your terms, the zoo." Well that explains the temperate vegetation here, thought Bruce, as Kelex exited the room.

He would never see it aloud, but Bruce actually liked the place. It was aptly called the Fortress of Solitude, away from the hustle and bustle of busy city life. He had to wonder how someone like Superman, who was both blessed and cursed with super sensitive senses, must feel disoriented with all hundred different kinds of spectacles and odors. No one wonder the poor guy longed for solitary confinement, and what better place to take a lonely sabbatical than the Arctic.

For the first time, Bruce considered how similar both of their lives were. Sure, there were differences in their mindsets, their methods, but deep down they were both lonely orphans in this world. He took a deep breath, and before he knew it, fell asleep.

(-)

Clark stood silently in front of his father's hologram. With a little bit of tinkering and help from Kelex he had been able to reactivate Jor-El's artificial consciousness. Despite never having seen him in flesh and blood, the hologram was still the closest thing left that he had to a father.

"What should I do now? I feel like I am alienating myself with those around me. What if I turn out just like Zod?" Clark asked.

Jor-El smiled, "I cannot make your choices for you Kal, but let me tell you, I would have been more worried if you did not have your conscience hanging on these matters. Remember this, you are a representative of hope, the hope which had abandoned Krypton. You will find your answers."

Clark looked hopeful, "Will I?"

Jor-El closed his eyes, and nodded with a hint of smile on his face. The hologram faded as the door opened and Bruce entered the room in a wheelchair.

"I have got a job to do, Clark," Bruce spoke.

(-)

"Lucius, it's me, Bruce."

"Where are you? You were supposed to be present in our meeting today. Don't tell me you hooked up with another model last night," Lucius' voice sounded amused.

"Nah, just a sabbatical in Himalayas. Keeping myself away from the paparazzi for half a week maybe. I needed a break from city life," Bruce looked at Clark, who was trying to keep a straight face after hearing Lucius' mild accusation.

Lucius sighed on the other side, being no stranger to Bruce's playboy tendencies under the pretense of taking a break from city life, "Alright I can take care of things down here."

"Thank you Lucius," Bruce hung up. "Your Kryptonian tech does make communicating easier."

"Sure, anytime you have a model to hook up, just ask for a communicator," Clark smirked.

Bruce looked at him with cold eyes, "Funny. I need to make another call to someone in Gotham."

(-)

Barbara Gordon was looking at her computer screen when her phone rang. "Hello?"

"Oracle, it's me."

She was amazed. Bruce never called her on her cell number, and certainly not during daytime when he needed to consult her alter ego. Her amazement quickly turned to anger as she realized Bruce had attempted to communicate with her in an insecure line.

"For God's sake, Bats, what are you thinking, calling me on my phone?" she hissed furiously.

"Relax, it is secure. Other worldly tech," Bruce's reply was succinct. "Have Nightwing fill in for me as Batman in Gotham while I am out. Tell him to take the suit in the Batcave"

Her amazement having reached at new heights at _Batman_ skipping patrol duty, Barbara called, "Are you ok?"

"Yeah I'm alright. Just in a wheelchair," he hung up ungraciously.

Barbara hesitated for a moment before calling Dick Grayson on the com-link, "Oracle here."

"Hi sweetheart. It's been quite a while," came the soft voice from the other side.

Barbara decided to ignore how much she enjoyed hearing that voice, "Manners Nightwing. I need you to join patrol duty in Gotham while Bats is out. He asked you to fill in for him."

Dick snickered, "What for? Don't tell me the rich boy is too busy for his own city."

Barbara sighed. Time to time, she would have to hear about Dick's reasons for falling apart with Bruce, one of them being not giving the Bat-family enough time as human beings."

"He told me he is in a wheelchair. Didn't give time to ask him what all that was about."

"He is lying Babs," Dick's voice turned awfully cold.

"Please Dick."

Hearing Dick's long inhalation from the other side, Barbara knew she had won as soon as she had played the emotional card.

"Fine. All the more opportunity for a proper date," Dick chuckled.

(-)

"I want back, Clark," Bruce called.

Clark raised an eyebrow, "I told you, you are in no shape to move…"

"I heard you," Bruce cut him short. "But I am not too comfortable knowing that I am lying on the North Pole while something sinister is brewing up there. At least I can keep in touch with what is going on in Metropolis."

Clark tried to star him down. Even in a wheelchair, Bruce had not lost his steely gaze, and Clark had to admit defeat.

"Alright. You can't go back to your hotel room now, as everyone knows you are in Himalayas."

"What about your lady friend?" Bruce asked unashamedly.

"WHAT?!" Clark could not believe he was hearing this, his face flushing at the very thought of it. "You want me to drop you in _Lois' _apartment?"

"Oh I will not try anything on your girl. And I suppose she won't either, after hearing…..what I truly am," Bruce promised.

Clark considered. It was too much pressure to check up on Bruce after his duties, in and out of costume, were done. And advanced though the Kryptonian medical science was, Bruce needed human company if he needed to mentally rebuild himself after that brush with death. Mostly though, he was glad at this opportunity to flush him out in front of Lois, and he could keep a closer look on Bruce if he was in the city.

"Have it your way then," Clark gave in reluctantly.


	10. Chapter 10: Complications

**At this moment I am deciding to end this story at 13 chapters in total. And if you have got any ideas on how I can improve on my writing; do tell. Anything else you want to say, do tell as well. Enjoy! :D**

**CHAPTER 10**

"For the last time Kent, I am telling you I'm not wearing that damn Spandex suit of yours. I will not go around masquerading in red and blue."

"It is not Spandex, it is Kryptonian armor!" Clark fired back after Bruce shot him the accusation. "Don't be stubborn, if I carry you all the way to Metropolis in your hospital robe, you are gonna end up in worse shape than you are in now."

Bruce grunted, but said nothing, so Clark had him put on the Kryptonian bodysuit. As soon as he had put on the suit, however, Bruce felt slightly invigorated. The pain in his back was subsided, the numbness in his legs was significantly reduced.

"Ready?" Clark asked. At Bruce's nodding, Clark took him up gently in his arms, ignoring the flush that was creeping around Bruce's face, before taking off slowly.

"I am so gonna hate this," Bruce let out through clenched teeth, the cold wind hit across his face as Clark accelerated through the atmosphere.

(-)

"Are you telling me you are falling back on your end of the bargain, Mr. Luthor?" Dorrance asked menacingly.

"Nothing to fall back upon when you have not even succeeded in fulfilling your end of the bargain," Luthor responded smoothly, motioning Mercy to pass him the newspaper. Dorrance snatched the newspaper through Luthor's fingers and felt his jaw dropped.

"That is utter bullshit! We just broke his back, he would be nearly dead now, not running around in Gotham scaring punks!" he threw the paper to the ground and slammed his fists on Luthor's table, sticking his face towards Luthor. "And why do you care whether he is in Gotham or in Wisconsin? You wanted to get rid of the Bat, you have got it, so just pay us our money."

"I see no credit of yours in his departure from Metropolis, and therefore no valid reason exists as to why I should pay you more than what your shipment demanded."

Dorrance lunged forward and grabbed Luthor by the neck, "Little man, if you think I am a common thug whom you can hook up with your businessman talk, you are barking up the wrong tree. I can squash your insignificant bald head and take over your whole empire just as easily as I took over this gang. Keep your part of the bargain and we can end this deal without any unnecessary unpleasantness."

Lex was not even slightly intimidated by the hulking figure hoisting him upwards and nonchalantly snapped his fingers. Before he knew Dorrance was grabbed by strong hands and flicked casually towards his men crashing. The rest of the gang who were still standing were stunned at finding their boss grounded before them.

Dorrance wiped the blood dripping from his chin and looked up. Through the dust the crash had caused, the men could make out a humanoid silhouette, which was not quite human. The dust slowly cleared, revealing a human sized robot. When it spoke, however, it felt more human, despite the mechanical monotone.

"Leave, before more of you get hurt."

"Gun that freak down, boys," Dorrance regretted the moment he made the command. The metallic armor easily withstood all the bullets his men's Tommy guns fired, and with the surprising speed he had experienced earlier, he saw his men being chucked all over the place. Before he could get over his incredulity, Dorrance was lifter upwards by the force of the uppercutting metallic fist. He smashed through the roof of the place and fell down on the floor of Lex's office with a thundering crush.

A panel in the metallic chest opened, exposing the familiar green rock which the gang helped Luthor obtain. The rock began to glow ominously when the command came.

"Stop."

Lex walked up to Dorrance, who was cowering on the floor, the bravado which he had shown five minutes earlier completely evaporated. "If you think the money is not enough, I can make it worth your while with pain. Yes?"

The giant stumbled while trying to get up. The mask did not let it reveal, but Lex was sure the eyes behind the mask were burning with hatred.

"I will get one over you Luthor," Dorrance hissed, before calling his men together and leaving. Lex smiled at Metallo, indirectly gesturing that the latter should leave as well.

When both the gang and Metallo had left, Mercy called him, "Lex, you do not need more enemies do you? Not after already antagonizing that alien."

Lex smiled, "The gang will have sense not to mess with me, Mercy. The Big Blue is as much of a menace to them as he is to me. And I do not think the Gothamite will let them go free so easily. The gang already has its hands full. Metallo can take care of the rest of the problems I have."

Mercy considered, then smiled, "You sly old dog."

(-)

"Tell me, what are you actually doing here with a broken back when you are supposed to have models swooning over you in Himalayas?"

Bruce lifted his face from in front of the computer screen, "Business matters Lois. Thanks for all the trouble you have taken." Cue the curt reply.

Lois walked over to Bruce's wheelchair and looked at the screen, "So tapping phones, tracing mails have become business for you? Since when?"

Bruce killed the screen, and swiveled his chair to face Lois, "Since I have become confined to this wheelchair due to an unfortunate accident in the hotel staircase. You can no longer spy on your rival corporations effectively when you can barely move."

Lois raised her eyebrows, "That still does not explain why you choose to remain incognito. Although," she paused, with a curious smile on her face, "I found it too much of a coincidence that a billionaire and a vigilant from Gotham sprung up here at the same time."

Bruce flinched slightly, which was all Lois' trained eyes needed. A shot in the dark had got her jackpot. "Coincidences do occur," he said finally, looking directly at Lois' eyes.

"Those blue eyes, why do I feel lost whenever I look at them?" thought Lois, as she slowly found her face moving towards Bruce's….

(-)

"I should not have done that," Lois said awkwardly after drawing her lips away from Bruce's. A faint hint of a smile formed on Bruce's face as he saw Lois' cheeks turn bright red. She turned suddenly and hurriedly left the room, leaving Bruce alone and confused in the room. Bruce continued to stare at the door for some time, thinking how he had meant the kiss as a distraction to get Lois off her track. But now after that happened, he realized how his own feelings about her had developed.

"No, Wayne, you are not doing this, remember?" Bruce told himself.

"Remember what?" Clark's voice came from outside the window, startling Bruce. "Just dropping by," he offered at Bruce's questioning gaze, flying in to the room. "Lois is in her room I guess."

A moment of awkward silence followed, interrupted only by the sound of Bruce's fingers hitting the keys on the keyboard.

"Have you ever done something which you would not have done normally, but you were forced to do due to circumstances?" Clark spoke after ten minutes.

Bruce spoke without turning his gaze, "You mean the Kryptonian you had to kill?" Ignoring Clark's wincing at his lack of sugar coating the truth, he continued, "No. But I have seen others in similar situations."

"Not a night goes by when his face does not haunt me. And there are lives which could have been saved, but I failed," Clark muttered miserably. "Sometimes I think I am not the hero they make me to be."

"I am sure Lois does not think that way."

Clark smiled sadly, "She would not admit it, but she has become bored listening to this repeatedly for the past few months. I did not want to bother her with old stories."

Bruce finally looked up, "So you are thinking of quitting. Fine, but what happens then? Or are you afraid even to think of that?"

"Are you calling me a coward, Bruce?" Clark's voice turned cold.

"Maybe."

"You don't know what it feels like to be looked upon like a freak!" Clark bitterly spat. "My father told me people would push me away if they knew what I truly am. And it's right isn't it?"

"I don't need to know. I won't ever admit I told this, but let me tell you Clark, do you have any idea how much people pin their hopes on you? That's right, you don't know. Are you going to take their hopes away from them?"

Clark smiled bitterly, "Hope. So fragile."

"Well, so are you, under your pretense of being strong. You want to clear the guilt from your heart? Keep the fighting on. The hardest part not of a fight is not winning it, the hardest part is not giving in to the urge of stopping. You are too afraid because you think along the lines of 'what would happen'. Try thinking of the consequences of what would have happened if you did not make the choices that you did" Bruce turned his eyes back on the screen, with an air of finality.

Clark stood in his place, silently, his head dropping low. When Bruce turned his head to find Clark, he found the latter had slipped away silently without him noticing.

"Idiot," Bruce grumbled. His eyes became fixed upon a particular entry on the page that had just appeared on the screen.

"Lucius, I hope I did not wake you," Bruce called on his phone.

"Well I am sure it must not be too dark in Tibet," the unmistakable sound of stifling a yawn came from the other side.

"I need you to hand over the prototype suit to a friend tomorrow at our Metropolis branch. 11 in the morning. Be sharp and keep it as much of a secret as you can."

"Ok. Now can I go back to sleep?" the line broke.

"Clark," Bruce put through a second call. "I need you to do something for me."

**A/N: Tada! Obviously Bruce has found something interesting, which explains his calling for the prototype suit. Hence the next chapter...**


	11. Chapter 11: Revealations

**The title says it all; some questions finally seeing answers. Enjoy!**

**CHAPTER 11**

Bruce raised his chin as soon as he saw the shadow in front of the window, "Took you long enough."

Clark scowled, "You do realize how tough it is to get your toys from two different places which are apart by almost ten thousand miles, all in the middle of a 30 minute break. Oh, and did I mention that I had to avoid Lois, thanks to your instructions?"

"She suspects the truth about me. I had to kiss her to distract her last night."

Clark froze mid air, looking at Bruce with horrified eyes.

"Not. What. You. Think." Bruce snapped, deliberately pausing after each word.

"Uh huh," Clark did not seem convinced. "Tell me more about the playboy Bruce Wayne is supposed to be."

"Technically, Bruce Wayne does not bed gorgeous women. He just drags them to the bedroom, kisses them and then slips alcohol to them, which conveniently contains sleeping pills, just enough to knock them out. They wake up with fuzzy memories, which they attribute to the blissful night they had supposedly spent."

"And I am supposed to believe that, coming from a man who is as famous for his drinking exploits as he is for seducing women?" Clark was not going to let this drop so easily.

"Wayne is a strict teetotaler. It's mostly ginger ale he takes under the guise of champagne. How do you think Batman can stay up late at night doing patrol duty all over the town, if Wayne is an alcoholic?" Clark took note of Bruce's strict use of the third person.

"Ok, so what about the 'I will not move on your girl' commitment?" Clark's face turned a crimson shade as soon as he saw Bruce raising his eyebrows.

"Told you it was to protect my own identity."

"Not that it will help because she will find out eventually. And I suppose there wasn't a slight romantic subtext beneath?"

It was Bruce's turn to blush, but he kept quiet.

"You and I are going to have a little chat once we are done with the trouble in hand." Clark said as he helped the other man into the exoskeleton, which expanded from its briefcase sized container into the full scale human size.

"Looking forward to that," Bruce remarked sarcastically as he put on the Kevlar bodysuit over the exoskeleton. The Batsuit would conceal any traces of the exoskeleton he was wearing, which, unlike the latest designs of the exoskeleton WayneTech and LexCorp were jointly developing, only covered up to the neck of its wearer.

Bruce noticed Clark looking at him with troubled eyes as he put on the Batsuit. He sighed, "If we are done talking about our personal lives, can we address the bigger issue?"

"It is not that. Your exoskeleton is the almost of the same design as the one which I saw on the cyborg when it attacked me. Didn't you say that your corporation and Luthor's were working together on this venture?"

Bruce looked up after putting his cowl on, "Your point?"

"My point being that Luthor is somehow involved in all of this."

"You are saying that because you dislike him."

"Only that the feeling is mutual, which gives Luthor a motive."

To his surprise, Clark saw Bruce nodding, "Luthor actually might be involved in this somehow. I finally managed to trace my lead to its source."

Clark said, "And let me guess, it was someone from LexCorp?"

Bruce shrugged, 'You should get back to the Planet. You being absent there will raise too many questions."

"You don't say, but are you sure you can handle all of this alone?"

"I can take care of myself. If I need your assistance I will let you know," Bruce's indifferent tone made it clear to Clark that he forced those words out of his mouth with reluctance.

"Be seeing you," Clark flew out.

(-)

Dr. Hamilton's mind was occupied by the latest revelations his tests on the mystical green rock had yielded when a powerful voice rang behind him.

"Tell me what you know about this green rock."

Before he could turn around, he found himself lifted upwards by his hands with two strong arms attached to them. Staring at him was a sight that his old heart could barely keep up with. "Bat… Batman!" he gasped.

"Sorry," the figure in black bodysuit put him down gently. "Didn't mean to startle you," his body movements did none to convey what his words were meant to.

The doctor rubbed his arms while asking, "How did you…"

Batman cut him short, "Not important. LexCorp already has used the exoskeleton on a test subject, hasn't it?" The shadow of the tall man bored down upon the doctor."

"How…" The doctor stopped as Batman raised a hand.

"Yes," the old man sighed, dropping his head. "I didn't like it, but Mr Luthor promised me bonus for it. The alternative was to get sacked."

"You knew that was not the reason the exoskeleton was developed?" Batman growled menacingly.

"I had no choice. I was without a job after the invasion. In fact, I was quite lucky to be able to make out of that military carrier plane alive. Everyone else was sucked into the black hole the impact created. Mr Luthor had been kind to me; he gave me a job, and money to continue with my own research."

"I take it you have not followed the news for the past few days, otherwise you would have known that whoever it was under that suit nearly managed to kill Superman."

"What?!" the doctor looked incredulous. "I knew Mr Luthor to despise him, but to go this far….." He looked up. "I should have known. I heard him running a venture with one of the gangs you drove from Gotham. They were the ones who had gotten their hands on the green rock in the first place. Mr Luthor seemed quite eager to get himself a hefty amount of that ore."

Another piece of the puzzle fell in place, "You were the one who had sent that anonymous tip off to me?"

The doctor nodded, "I am afraid at that time I believed that Mr Luthor's crossing the line was as a result of him being blackmailed somehow. I am sorry."

"It's alright, doctor. You did not know the truth." Batman turned, picking up a small piece of ore on the work table. "What is so special about that ore?"

"Concisely speaking, it has a high calorific value, making it an excellent fuel. An interesting property of it is that it is slightly radioactive, and the rays it emits reacts with the Kryptonian cell membrane and disrupts cellular functions."

Batman raised his face slightly, apparently connecting the dots. "Thank you for telling me all of this." Turning with his back facing the doctor, he continued, "You know what doctor, a man of your talents can get a job anywhere he wants. Think about it."

Hamilton looked away, taking in the last few words. When he looked back to where Batman was, he found him gone.

"I will need to talk with him," he thought as his colleagues flooded into the laboratory, indicating that the midday break was over.

(-)

Lex was surprised to see Hamilton in his office. The doctor was the type of man who was devoted to putting as much time as he could muster in his research.

"Extra funds required for your experiments, doctor?" The doctor, surprisingly, shook his head, before extending the envelope that was in his hand. Snatching it from his hand, Lex ripped open the contents and a wave of shock swept over him.

"I see you are resigning. Perhaps an increase in your monthly allowance would do?"

"I am not your pet, Mr Luthor. I have been an accomplice in too many of your misdeeds, but not anymore. I am turning over a new leaf."

"You are not making any sense, sir," Lex return was sternly.

The old man fired back, "You did not care a cent about John Corben. You just used his hatred to further your goals of removing Superman, wasn't it?"

Lex chuckled, "He was too willing to cooperate. This is all you have to say?"

"No. I am going to tell the police everything I know."

As the doctor exited his room, Lex mused, "Seems you do not see too many movies, doc. You should never threaten the rich guy."

(-)

Clark's ear picked up an alarm while finishing his latest article.

"Not him again," he groaned. Deciding he would drop off Batman at Gotham for good this time if he found the latter messing with thugs again, he made his way to the washroom to change into his Kryptonian mail. Within a minute he was speeding through the air towards the source of trouble: the harbor.

The sight of the place surprised him. Despite that being the peak time for activity, it was fully deserted. He could only assume that the people had fled as soon as the trouble started, but the surprising thing was that the place was in full order. No damaged buildings, no upturned cargo. His supervision revealed a familiar silhouette cornering an old man at the eastern side of the harbor.

He flew upwards, high enough so that he had enough momentum while he dropped down right over the attacking figure. His target deftly leaped aside, clearing his way towards the old man. The familiarity of the face stunned Clark momentarily.

"Dr Hamilton?!" he said disbelievingly.

(-)

Major John Stewart, base sub commander of the 5th division of US Marines, looked on as took his lunch. Another unremarkable day was passing in his life; waking up, early morning drill, briefing from the division commander, taking his position on the lighthouse like observation platform.

"Sir, you might want to see this," one of the young soldiers came into the room running all of a sudden.

John grinned, sensing excitement, "Show me."

"Whoa," he muttered as soon as the video started running. It showed a familiar blue clad figure carrying an old man in his arms as he flew away. A strange robotic figure followed him with unbelievable speed, crossing 50 feet with each leap. Cargos and cranes were tossed aside as the robot leaped, and the blue clad figure added to the destruction using his eye beams in order to hinder his pursuer, but to little effect.

Despite his sense of adventure throbbing to get out, John knew this was a serious situation. "Have the alpha team ready. I am going to lead this."  
**  
A/N: Apparently Hamilton survived miraculously (I didn't figure how to make it plausible, so let it keep at somehow) explaining his return after what happened in Man of Steel (which I used as a springboard story).  
John Stewart is still in the Marines (reference to the Justice League animated series) and not a member of the Green Lantern corps, as of yet.**


	12. Chapter 12: Takedown

**CHAPTER 12**

Clark looked back to see the cyborg gaining up on him as he had to fly at slower than his top speeds in order not to give the old man he was carrying a heart attack. Every time and then he would use his heat rays to snap a chain and drop something heavy on the cyborg, which did little to hinder his adversary.

"You can run, flyboy, but I am faster than you. And you can't hide," came the contempt filled voice from below him. Clark continued to cause disruption, mentally noting to himself the irony of the current situation. Whenever the cyborg was hindered, he would throw something heavy towards Clark, causing him to swerve and slow down, and then the cyborg would be again on his heels.

The cat and mouse chase between the alien and the cyborg continued all the way from the harbor to the centre of the city, leaving a trail of collateral damage in their wake. "Come on, Clark. You can't do this the whole day and if you lose, you will get both yourself and the old man killed." Clark considered his options; he desperately needed a distraction.

And as if God himself had heard his prayers, he heard the sound of gunshot and bullets deflecting in a metallic spark against the cyborg's body. Looking back, he saw a squad of Marines trying to keep his adversary at bay with assault rifles. Clark knew that they were just buying him time; so he flew towards the tallest building nearby and let the doctor down on the roof.

"Thank you Superman," the old man smiled.

Clark smiled, "Be careful doctor. We would hate to lose you again." And with those words, he jumped off the roof and sped off towards the cyborg, who was bracing to jump on top of the soldier nearest to him. Clark grabbed the soldier by the waist and flew away just before the cyborg landed.

"Get me down, please," the soldier spoke in a commanding voice.

Half a year earlier, if anyone had spoken to Clark in such a tone, he would have raised an eyebrow in annoyance. In the light of the hostility he had faced afterwards from the military, however, this was almost as good as a show of gratitude.

"Ok, Major…" Clark responded, noticing the soldier's badge and the absence of a name tag, surprised that a ranking officer would be willing to lead his team from the front in a such a confrontation.

"John Stewart," came the succinct, but not unkind, reply, "We can have proper introductions later. Right now this robotic maniac, or whatever, needs to be stopped. Can you take him out?"

Clark winced, remembering the last confrontation, "I can, but I could use a little back up."

"You got it," Clark was starting to like this guy. Turning around, the major barked a command to his troops. Immediately, some of them took cover, while the others ran to the nearest buildings to evacuate the civilians in there. Clark, for his part, sped up and rammed the cyborg hard, knocking it a good fifty feet away. As soon as his eyes detected the ominous shifting of a panel in the chest of the cyborg, Clark flew upwards as fast as he could, and from a height were the green glow did not faze him, used his eye rays to melt the green rock. He would have succeeded, but the cyborg had another trick up its sleeve. A green beam shot from its chest, meeting with the heat rays in mid air, causing an explosion.

Clark flew away just as the smoke from the explosion cleared, revealing the cyborg jumping towards him. Heat rays shot from his eyes again, and this time, the rays successfully hit the panel right above the rock, melting it. The liquid metal solidified around the rock, blocking the green aura.

"Now a little therapy for your backside, metal boy. I owe you one so dearly," Clark remarked as he flew towards the cyborg. This time, he did not hold back as much as he had in their previous encounter, and soon had the cyborg backing away. Again Clark was in for a surprise, for just when he thougth he had the upper hand, the metal in the cyborg's chest covering the rock blew apart.

Pain shot through his body, but this time his knees did not buckle. Mustering all his willpower, Clark flew upwards again, and inhaled deeply. This time, instead of shooting eye beams, he blew out all the air in his lungs. A wave of chilly wind blew over the cyborg, and it was instantly trapped in a frozen matrix.

"Ice breath," Stewart stated with curiosity in his voice. "Didn't know you could do that."

"Me neither. But I had to come up with something to stop that metal encased sociopath," Clark responded. No sooner had he said that, there was a booming, which sounded like an iceberg cracking. Clark turned to see the cyborg emerging from the giant shattered ice cube, completely unharmed.

"So much for improvisation," Clark muttered. He readied himself to unleash another ice breath, but a sudden flash of green hit him squarely in the chest, making him lose his concentration. Again the familiar pain slowly began to creep through his body. Smoke dimmed the green glow around the cyborg's chest panel.

His strength slowly but inevitably waning, Clark forced himself to focus, ignoring the growing agony. He used his heat beams to melt the green rock, but green flashes parried the reddish yellow rays.

"What is it going to be, chum? Should I kill you off this time for good now? Or should I start with those sissies while you see that happening helplessly?" the cyborg taunted. With those words, the green ore once again began to glow, and the beams shot towards the soldiers. The soldiers had to stop shooting to duck the barrage of green rays the cyborg shot at them

Clark immediately parried them away with his own eye beams. "Please, don't do this!" he pleaded. As his remaining energy drained out of his body through the red beams, images filled his mind: Clark himself having his arm wrapped around the neck of an old Kryptonian, flashes of red emanating from his eyes, a family cornered against a wall, and finally a thunderous boom, followed by the lifeless Kryptonian's body dropping to the floor.

"Please, stop! Don't hurt these innocent people. Kill me if you want to, but spare them!" he again pleaded.

The green beam stopped suddenly as Clark reached the near end of the reserve of his energy. The cyborg walked coolly towards Clark, who was kneeling out of fatigue. Tears streamed from his faces, as he remembered the choice he had made last time. He could not bring himself to do that again, not after he had vowed to himself that he would never kill, even if it resulted in his own death.

"If this is going to end in a death, then let it end with mine," Clark thought as he looked up at the cyborg. Clark saw the green glow intensify, aware that it was going to be the last thing he would see.

He closed his eyes

(-)

John Stewart bent his neck around the pillar behind which he was taking cover. He could see Superman fall on his knees as the robot walked towards him slowly. With each step, Superman seemed to be getting weaker.

"What is happening?" he asked to himself, puzzled. He noticed the rest of the squad regrouping and taking their positions, preparing for an all out attack on the robot.

"Wait!" he shouted. He saw Superman's head slowly spinning, as if out of dizziness. With him in this shape, if his squad fired open, it could possibly kill the alien, while the cyborg would be unscathed.

As bright green aura filled the surroundings, John found himself silently praying. He had never been the most religious of people, but for that moment, he desperately hoped for a miracle.

As if on cue, it happened.

(-)

Clark waited with his eyes closed, for that fatal blast. When it did not come, he kept his eyes closed, not daring to open them. When he heard a grunt from a familiar voice, his first reaction was that he was indeed alive.

He opened his eyes, only to see the cyborg standing exactly where he had seen him. Only the green rock was missing in its chest, as it lay on the ground before him. Batman walked over and picked up the rock in a metallic box. Instantly the green glow died, and Clark felt energy flowing through his veins again.

"What happened?"

Batman shrugged, "Lucky you." And then he pointed towards the cyborg's chest. Where the rock should have been there were three curved metallic disk, shaped like a bat. He assumed that those disks had knocked out the green rock, and without that the cyborg was unable to move.

Clark got up groggily. He thought he was going to topple over from the dizziness, but he managed to hold his stance. Batman turned and walked over to the Major to discuss about the cyborg and what to do with it now that it was immobilized. Clark slowly walked towards the two, reaching them just as they finished the conversation.

"It looks like we are in your debt, both of you," the Major spoke, turning to face Clark, "And although it might be against our code of conduct, I think you both deserve this." And with those words, Stewart assumed an attention position and saluted the two heroes, with his whole squad following suit, completely stunning Clark.

"Thank you, Major. It's very kind of you." And with that Clark turned and walked away, with Batman following him. Only if he had looked back, he would have observed the Major smiling ever so slightly.

(-)

"I need to go to the Westroom Auditorium," Bruce spoke once both he and Clark were out of earshot of any eavesdroppers.

Clark raised an eyebrow, to which Bruce replied, "Luthor's officially inaugurating the joint venture between WayneTech and LexCorp there. Supposedly, there is a plan to assassinate him there. My sources tell that he had run afoul of some….mob bosses."

Clark nodded, "Your old friends. I am coming too."

Bruce turned, "Look I appreciate your gratitude but…"

Clark cut him short, "You don't have to do all of this alone, Bruce. If it means anything to you, this is my city, which means that I am just about responsible for the safety of people here as you are, if not more. And I am not going to make exceptions even for someone as despicable as Luthor."

Bruce sighed, "Me and my big mouth. You're one stubborn kid you know that Clark?"

(-)

They had barely reached the place when inferno broke loose. A sniper bullet caught Luthor in the shoulder and he promptly ducked, while his bodyguards formed a protective ring around him and fired back in the direction from where they suspected the sniper bullets. Tommy guns fired in response randomly from the audience, causing the rest of them to get stuck in crossfire. A few men took their positions at the door to prevent anyone from leaving or entering.

Immediately Superman broke in through the window and stepped in front of the astounded people in the audience, the bullets bouncing harmlessly off his chest.

Batman yelled, "Get those people out of here!" Superman obliged, picking two or three people at a time and speeding out, and again coming back in three seconds while Bruce started to throw batarangs at the thugs, who had long cast off their disguises, while dodging stray bullets.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw a familiar face with a camera raised in front of her. "Lois," he shouted. That proved to be a mistake, as one thug turned his attention towards her. With amazing agility, Bruce crossed the distance between himself and Lois, and even before the attacker had a chance to aim, threw a batarang at him and knocked him out.

Batman made his way out of the window, picking up the reporter with one hand and his other hand holding a grappler gun. Lois, in his arms, shot him a startled look, and exclaimed in a disbelieving voice, "Bruce?!"

This shocked him so much that he nearly let go of the grappler, "Wrong!"

"How could you lie to me like this?!"

Bruce grunted, "Maybe now is not the time to ponder over my truthfulness, or the lack of it." He let down Lois on the ground before grappling his way back into action.

Lois sighed, "Why is it that all the men I happen to have feelings for are superheroes?"

(-)

When Clark got back after evacuating all the people in the auditorium, only two of Luthor's bodyguards were standing, the rest had fallen. Without wasting any time, he began to mow through the thugs, moving with blinding speed, taking out to one of them every second. In no time, all the thugs were lying in dazed heaps, except for a giant in a strange mask with tubes running along his back, who Clark suspected was their leader. He raised his Tommy gun, but the barrel melted even before he could press his finger against the trigger.

Before the giant could get over the shock, Clark's right fist crashed with his jaws, sending him backwards. Clark readied another right hook, but the giant bellowed before he could make his move.

"Stop or I blow up this entire building!"

Clark stopped dead in his tracks. "You are bluffing."

The giant brought out a detonator in his hand from his pockets, "Care to find out? I had this entire building rigged with explosives, just in case you two decided to crash my little party. And no," he added, once he saw Clark's eyes glowing red, "I would not do that if I were you. The detonator gives a high frequency pulse when it is destroyed. The bombs have been calibrated at exactly the same frequency to go off."

A sudden movement, and out of nowhere came a batarang, knocking the detonator out of the giant's hands. "It is no good if you don't have your hands on it." Batman called coolly. "No, this is my fight." He added as Clark made a motion to move forward. "Get the rest of the people out of this building. I have a score to even."

Clark opened his mouth to argue, but the stare Batman shot shut him up. "Now!" Batman shouted, and this time Clark obliged.

(-)

Bruce walked along the imaginary circle that he and the giant had created as the two studied each other's moves, waiting for the other to strike first.

"I broke you once already. What makes you think you can beat me this time?" the giant said.

Bruce laughed, "Broke? You just temporarily inconvenienced me."

The giant hissed in anger, "This time I will not leave any of your bones unbroken. And when I am done, everyone will remember me as the bane of the Dark Kinght!"

"Nice offer, but I think I will just kick your butt and take you back to the asylum."

With that, Bruce ran forward and flipped over the giant's head just as the giant aimed a punch at his stomach. The powered suit made it seem easier than before. His adversary turned and attacked with brutal ferocity, but Bruce easily dodged and parried all the attacks, and then countered with a left hook. The force of it broke the mask, causing white gas to blow from it.

The giant grunted in pain, "Rawwwwr!" before launching himself again on Bruce. He was fast, but Bruce was naturally faster, and the suit only added to his agility. A kick to the diaphragm, followed by another to the knees, had the giant on his knees. An uppercut from his right, and Bruce had knocked the giant down.

"Not many of my bones are broken, Bane." Bruce taunted.

The giant smiled grimly, "You think you have won? The bombs will go off in two minutes, whether the detonator goes off or doesn't. And if I am going down, I am taking you with me." With that the giant launched himself again on Bruce. Bruce could have finished the fight quickly using lethal force, but he wanted to knock the giant out and get themselves off before the building went bang.

A lucky shot by the giant connected with his torso, and immediately Bruce's arm began to feel heavy. At once he knew that the fuel cell of the suit had been damaged, and with all his remaining strength, he punched Bane back, knocking him out cold. Bruce began to collapse under the weight of his own suit, now the fuel cell was gone, and his still mending back did not help.

As he lay on the floor helplessly, the floor began to shake violently at the force of the explosions. Bruce closed his eyes, losing consciousness. He was aware of something…someone picking him up gently before he blacked out completely.


	13. Chapter 13: Beginnings and endings

**CHAPTER 13**

The sunshine blinded Bruce as he opened his eyes. Putting his hands up to cover his eyes, he took a look around. He was back in Lois' apartment, in the guest room that Lois had painstakingly suited for his needs, and in front of him sitting on the couch was Superman. Only that he was not in uniform, but in office attire.

"Took you long enough. Night patrols finally seem to be catching up with you Bruce," Clark said, smiling and then frowned unexpectedly, "Do you always have to play the all sacrificing hero?"

"Look who's talking," Bruce retorted, sitting up. "What happened?"

"You collapsed just as the bombs went off. I was just in time to get you out of the building." Clark shot a steely look, "You knew all along that there were time bombs, didn't you?"

Bruce shrugged in a matter of fact way, "Just in case someone got rid of the detonator. That Bane guy had quite a magnificent brain, pity that he didn't make it." He looked at Clark, "He didn't make it, did he?

Clark sighed, "Sorry." He paused for a moment, and then continued, "I could use some answers, Bruce. How did you manage to know all these things?"

Bruce chuckled, "To quote Christie's Hercule Poirot: 'You have too truthful a nature, my friend.' I have my methods."

Clark did not show his displeasure at Bruce comparing him to a detective's sidekick. "Whatever. How did you know of the gang's plan to hit on Luthor."

Bruce again gave that shrug of indifference, "Electronic surveillance; I had about 90% of the entire city covered. You'd be surprised to know how much trash the people here talk."

Clark's expression shifted from that of wonder to disbelieve and finally outrage, "That was the ultimate violation of one's privacy! Don't tell me you had bugs on me too."

"Three in fact. Two at your place, and one at your cubicle at the Planet."

Clark's lower jaw dropped, to which Bruce smirked, "You can thank me later for that."

"Tell me about it. And who was your lead within LexCorp?"

"You will be surprised."

"Yeah? Try me."

(-)

"I can't believe this. Why would Dr Hamilton ever work for that bald snake?"

"He was promised money. You know how this scientist types are, Clark. At least he had the brains to doubt Luthor's motives," Bruce replied calmly.

Clark still look troubled, "And what happens to the venture?"

Bruce grinned, "This is the most interesting part. We have reached such a phase of development that it would incur huge losses if we stop going on."

Clark started, "You don't mean…"

Bruce raised a hand, "Hold your horses, Clark. I said WayneTech would continue the development. That doesn't necessarily mean that we would do it with LexCorp. We will soon be moving for a patent, which means LexCorp would not be able to continue building powered exoskeletons."

"But his company still has the blueprints!"

"_Had_, Clark. Dr Hamilton was in charge of the team which collaborated with our scientists. I suppose our little meeting prompted him to remove the plans. And no one else inside LexCorp, except Luthor, actually saw the blueprints."

Clark laughed out loud, "Which means Luthor is back to square one. What about Dr Hamilton, by the way?"

Bruce winked, "He would be getting a lucrative offer from WayneTech. Very soon."

(-)

Three days later, Bruce Wayne had returned to the public world, apparently refreshed from the Himalayas. His first action upon arriving was to immediately cancel the venture with LexCorp on air, stunning the entire population of Metropolis. When Lois Lane had asked for the reasons, he had motioned Lucius Fox, CEO of WayneTech, to answer. The CEO's reply had been short and to the point. When his response was finished, the reputation of the benevolent businessman that Lex Luthor had built was but in dust, and "Superman" was on everybody's lips, not as a menace this time, but as a hero.

On the other side of Metropolis, Luthor was surrounded by hordes of reporters as the shocking revelation still left much to be told. Clark Kent of the Planet took particular joy in asking Luthor about the legitimacy of Bruce Wayne's claims, and whether Luthor would press charges of his own. None of the questions were answered properly, leaving no doubt in the reporters' minds about the truth.

Clark Kent was one satisfied reporter that day, having got his hands on the story of his life, literally.

(-)

Bruce was standing with Lucius in front of his private jet when the sound of a car braking made him turn his neck. He saw Lois getting out of the car.

"Could you wait for me up at the jet Lucius? I wouldn't take too long."

Lucius nodded, as Bruce turned to face Lois, who was walking towards him.

"Come to say goodbye, Lois?" he asked good naturedly.

Lois looked at him smiling and stared away in apparent nervousness. "I wanted to tell you something, Bruce."

"Yes?" Bruce could not believe his ears. He had been sure that the beautiful woman in front of him was enamored with Superman. Now that she had come in person to speak to him as he was leaving, Bruce felt his heart flutter at the prospect of finding someone with whom he could settle.

Lois still looked away, refusing to meet Bruce's eyes. He took her hands in his, and leaned forward slightly, "Will you come to Gotham with me?"

"I….I want to…but….."

"Please?"

Finally she looked right at him, the purple eyes staring at the blue ones, "I like you, Bruce, but.." She suddenly yanked her hands out of his and then continued with renewed conviction, "You really never cared about me, did you? It was your playboy act all along."

"I.." It was Bruce's turn to stammer, completely bewildered by the sudden turn of events. Lois looked at him with a steely gaze. Bruce's mind flew back to the first day in Metropolis: Lois laughing and chatting lively beside Clark. Deep down, although he knew he had fallen in love with her, he also knew that she could never reciprocate his feelings. And he thought of Clark, and the look of desperation in his eyes whenever the subject of Lois would come up.

Bruce dropped his head. When he raised it, it had a sad smile on it, "You're right Lois. It was just that, nothing more."

Lois's stare softened, "You are a good friend, Bruce. Take care of yourself." She stood on the balls of her feet to kiss his cheek, and then turned around to walk to her car.

A long sigh escaped his lips, before he saw a tall man standing next to his jet. It was Clark.

"She kisses well, huh? I knew it was a bad idea to leave you two alone in her apartment." There was no bitterness in Clark's voice, only warmth, and something else that Bruce hadn't expected from him before: sympathy.

"Well, I suppose that's the ending of a typical hero story." Bruce's face turned into a hard smile. "And you will take care of her won't you?"

Clark smiled coolly in return, "Right. Thanks for reminding me."

"You better remember that. Otherwise, some day you might find that a big chunk of that green rock has accidentally slipped into your apartment." Clark's eyes widened with mock horror.

"I guess Metropolis will be missing you, Bruce."

"I won't. I hate it here." Bruce ascended the stairs of the jet. "And if I were you, I would not let my guard against Luthor yet."

Clark raised his hand in farewell, "Stay well, Bruce."

(-)

'My father used to read to me from the Bible every night when I was young. His favorite story used to be about David and Goliath. Whatever story he read each night, he would always put aside some time to tell me this story, each night in a different way. Pa used to end like this, "Remember Clark, even the strongest can be fell by blows from the weakest. Wise is he who does not push away those under his protection, when he is about to fall. Because those very same people will then brace themselves to stop your fall." I wondered then. I know now. My father, the _other_ one, also told me about choices. I know now that giving up is not an option. Life reaches fulfillment when you refuse to yield to the miseries that have heaped upon you. And it took a part time playboy, of all people, to teach me that. I thought the best way I could protect those I cared about is to distance myself from them. I know better now.'

Clark put the cap back on his pen. Even in his Fortress of Solitude, he felt that he would never feel lonely again. As a smile formed on his face, he felt his insides flutter with the joy that he had only experienced once before: on his first day in the Daily Planet.

(-)

In Texas, young Jaime Reyes was working on his parents' garage when the sound of an explosion caught his attention. Tracking it to its source, he came across a mysterious scarab like device. As his curiosity got the better of his fear of the unknown, his hands reached out to the artifact. Immediately the scarab sprung to life and clung to his body, encasing him like an exoskeleton. His terrified screams were muffled as the last part of the device covered his head…

(-)

Not long ago, a corpse had been dumped in one of the sewers of Metropolis. Exactly thirteen days after the corpse had slipped to the bottom of the sewers, a giant bleached hand broke the surface of the water….

(-)

Captain Steven Trevor and his mentor, Major Diana Rockwell, were patrolling the Florida airspace like every other day on duty. They were in for a surprise when Rockwell's systems an unidentified flying object moving towards them.

"You see that Trevor?" she asked the younger man.

"Yeah. Eagle 22 to base. We have a bogey in Sector 44. Permission to engage." Trevor called on his com link.

"Granted captain. But do not fire until further orders."

"Roger that."

"What are you thinking Trevor? I am the commanding officer here." Rockwell's disapproval was scarcely concealed.

"Trust me, you're gonna love this," Trevor grinned.

(-)

Anthony looked around in his cell, the remnants of the once proud Gold family: fourteen prisoners who were badly beaten up. Sighing at the memories of the good old days, he turned to face the bars, when the guard in duty unexpectedly unlocked the gate.

"Good for you, scumbags. It seems there are people in this world who are still willing to bail out worthless dirt like you." Anthony ignored the guard's leer and looked at the mysterious man in black behind the guard, the one who had apparently been their benefactor."

"Good to see you, Mr Anthony. I suspect your gang has gone through lots of ups and downs. What do you say about you guys turning over a new leaf?" The man remarked calmly.

"Who are you?" Anthony asked, amazed.

The man smiled, "Morgan Edge. We are going to have so much fun Mr Anthony. Trust me."

**A/N: Surprises! I liked the post credit scene techniques of Marvel so much that I decided to play with them a little. Will we have more stories in this continuity? You can bet we would! :D**  
**Thanks to all of those who have spent their valuable time on this story. I admit it is not very good, this being my first ever story, and English being not my first language; there are a lot of loopholes, and the narration is unevenly paced. However I do hope I can come up with better stories in the future. Till then, goodbye, and thanks again for your feedback!**


End file.
